Her Sequel To Life
by HabsGirl31
Summary: Everlie is a retired elite gymnast due to injury. With everything she's worked so hard for ruined, her family hopes being back in La Push will make her realize there's more to life than gymnastics. Maybe a certain werewolf can hurry up the process Paul/OC
1. Prologue

**So, I decided to write a new fic. This whole prologue is just pretty much how her career ended, how successful it was, and how she ended up moving to LaPush. But don't worry, the whole story won't really be that gymnastics related. So please check it out :)**

**PS – I know I'm not updating my Complicated Again fic, but I just don't know how to go about it and have lost most interest in it. I don't want to update a crappy chapter so I'm just going to wait and see if I can get some motivation.**

Gymnastics was my life. It was all I ever knew. Since I was 8 years old I had spent at _least_ seven, usually eight, hours a day, six days a week, in the gym conditioning and training. When I wasn't in the gym, I was running or focusing on gymnastics. I got to the point where whenever I wasn't training, I was incorporating gymnastics routines, stretches or exercises into everyday tasks. I stretched while I watched television; I managed to add in strength building exercises while I was cooking.

I had to drop out of school at twelve and be home-schooled because my junior career required too much traveling and time for me to attend school. My only friends were the other girls at my gym, and they were also my competitors. I missed out on regular childhood activities. I didn't play any other sports. I rarely went to see a movie or hung out with friends. As you can probably tell, my training didn't leave much time left over for fun. Gymnastics ruled my life.

And I loved it.

And it was all worth it. Every hour in the gym, every normal childhood activity I gave up, every twist and sprain, every failed routine, were worth it. Because last year, at sixteen, I made the USA Olympic team. And I didn't just make the Olympics, I dominated the Olympics. I won gold in the All Around thanks to receiving gold in the Uneven Bars and Vault, silver on the Beam, and Bronze on my Floor Exercise. We also won the Team competition. Not only making my childhood dream come true, but exceeding it.

Everything was amazing. After the Olympics, I was invited on the tour of the best gymnastics. I got the opportunity to meet my role models, as well as my fans. It's safe to say 2008 was the best year of my life.

But then, 2009 came...

At first everything was going amazingly. I swept the American Cup – which was the first time I ever received a gold for my Floor Exercise – but then, the Pacific Rim Championships came. I was in the All Around competition. The schedule for the meet ended with Floor. I was pretty excited. My first three events went by quickly and well. I placed first in bars and second on Vault and Beam. I needed to place fourth or above in order to get the All Around gold.

It didn't happen. In the latter seconds of my routine, with just two more moves to do, to be exact, I did my Double Back with Triple Twist. Let's just say, the move that I had enjoyed most and been the best at, partially ended my gymnastics career. Because of not using enough power in my take off, I crashed to the ground. Eating mat hard.

My left leg and my right wrist snapped, while my right ankle was sprained. Despite the excruciating pain, I tried to stay positive. There was still another three years until the next Olympics, and I'd be back training again in three months top.

So I thought.

There was only a week left until I would have been able to go back to training, and I was at my doctor's for a physical. He informed me that I had several bulging disks in my lower back. For a normal person, that wouldn't have been a huge problem. They might have had some discomfort later on in life but nothing major. However for an elite gymnast, it meant that you'd be lucky to ever walk again if you continued doing gymnastics.

He didn't have to go into details... Carly Patterson, a fellow gymnast at WOGA had had the same diagnosis. I knew what I would have to do. And that sadly meant that everything I'd worked for since I was eight, was over. At seventeen, my life's work was done.

I had one and a half years worth of senior elite gymnastics before it was over. My parents tried to make my accident a positive thing. Saying that if I hadn't, my back issues could've gone undiscovered and I could have become paralyzed. Although I'll never tell them out loud, I would have been okay with that if it meant that I could do gymnastics for another few years.

Since I know, though, I can't do gymnastics. Not elite, not collegiate, not even recreational. At first it was hard, it was unbearable. I didn't know what to do with myself. My whole life had been at the gym and when I couldn't be there, I didn't know what to do. For the first time in my life, I had all the time in the world and no idea how to use it.

At first, we stayed in Texas where I had been training. Eventually, it just became too much. Everyone knew who I was. Everyone wanted to know the 'real' reason behind my retirement. And all the friends that had always been there for me, were just too busy with their training to comfort me much.

That's when my parents decided to move back to our hometown, the La Push Reservation in Washington. The last time I'd been there, I was seven. It was just before a WOGA scouts convinced my parents of my talents and how they wanted me to train there. I wasn't too thrilled with their decision. Especially when they told me I should go back to public school for my twelfth and final year of high school.

Then again, from what I remembered about La Push, no one was interested in gymnastics. And considering by the time I was famous for the sport, they would have all forgotten me, I was sure no one would realize or care. Yes, I liked being recognized for my hard work. But I can't exactly move on when I'm reminded daily. Like I was in Texas. Every. Single. Day.

I knew I had to move onto the next chapter of my life. But moving on from gymnastics for me wasn't like a new chapter, it was a whole new novel. It was the scariest thing in the world. But it was what was best for me.

**Please tell me what you think :) Even though the story hasn't started yet lol **


	2. Chapter 1

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed :) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or Carly Patterson (duh :P)**

**Chapter 1**

Looking myself over in the mirror one last time, I head downstairs. My parents both smile up at me as I enter our kitchen. Although our house is actually smaller than the apartment we lived at in Texas, I have to admit, it's kind of nice.

"Excited for school?" my mom asks.

"I'm more nervous," I admit, glancing down at myself. I'm only five foot to begin with, and about 95 pounds. For gymnastics, that was a blessing. For high school, everyone will probably think I'm anorexic. Luckily my shorts and t-shirt shows my muscle, so maybe people will see I'm not just skin and bones...

"You'll be fine," my dad assures me. "This year will be so different for you! You'll get to live a regular life. Hang out with friends, join sports and clubs, party," he adds the last one jokingly. Which is his attempt to cheer me up.

"But I don't want to live a different life, I want gymnastics back!" I try not to sound like a spoiled brat who didn't get her way, because that isn't the case. But my parents are the only one's around who come close to understanding how much I miss gymnastics. They're the only ones I can talk to.

They sigh. My mom pats my back lightly. "We know," she says, "but it just can't happen, Sweetie. Your life is more important than your career that would've been over in another few years anyway."

It's safe to say my mom could never be a life coach. Her version of cheering me up is just reminding me more that right now I'd be training for the VISA Championships and not attending school. She didn't mean it that way. After all, a gymnasts career is usually short, some do 5 or 6 years, and some are lucky enough to do 8. But not even two, just wasn't enough to satisfy me.

"I know. It just sucks when I think about what everyone is doing right now, and I'm just not!" They shoot me sympathetic looks but don't say a word. It's better that way. It still sucks, though.

After a few moments of silence, my dad finally tells me seriously, "We came here so you could move on, Everlie. We know it's hard for you. We know it's all you've known and all you want to know. But you have to move on and realize that there's more to life than gymnastics."

I know he means well. But his words just seem like a slap in the face. Can't they just let me mope in peace? "Maybe there is more to life than gymnastics!" I yell, blinking back tears. "But there shouldn't be! Not now! I'm too young to be done! Right now I should be training! I should be working my ass off for the VISAs! Instead I'm here in this stupid town! Miles away from the only place I want to be! And you can't even let me be sad over that for a bit? Everything I've worked for, all the thousands of hours of training is gone! Done! And you just expect me to _move on_? You may be able to act like nothing's going on but I can't! Because this whole fucking thing sucks!"

My parents blinked, looking at me with stunned expressions. Immediately I feel bad, they gave up everything so I could pursue my dreams and it's in no way their fault that this happened. But I don't know what to say. I've never lashed out at them like that before. Even in the most pressured situations, I always kept my cool. I hate being a bitch.

"I'm, I... I'm sorry," I stutter quickly before grabbing my backpack and running for the door. I keep running once I'm out in case they come after me. Not looking where I'm going, I accidentally run in to something really hard. I look up to see three boys that have to be at least six feet tall staring down at me. They all have the signature Quileute look, like everyone here. I just didn't remember the people here being this tall.

They keep staring at me and I can't figure out why. There is no way they could've heard my outburst. Plus people don't usually stare people down until they say sorry. Especially when they are strangers. "Sorry," I say shyly.

All three of them nod at me. "Are you new?" the tallest of the boys asks.

"Yeah, I just moved back here," I respond awkwardly. I recognize their stares now. They know they've seen me before but they can't quite pinpoint how. Before it kicks in, I decide to get out of there. "Anyway, bye."

I started to run towards the school but I catch snippets of their conversation before I'm out of earshot.

"Think she's...?"

"Definitely … nastics."

"Yeah, look at the way she runs."

Then they start laughing. Self consciously, I slow to a jog, then a walk. I know most people find the way gymnasts run for their events hilarious. But in our defense, it gives you better speed. Guess I can't really say "our" anymore, though. Still, when I'm running outside of gymnastics I don't run like that. I suppose my running does look like a hybrid of "normal" running and gymnastic running... Yeah, hopefully they don't put me in phys. ed. if that's the case...

I try to forget about those guys' conversation as I finish my walk to La Push High. But if a few bulky teenagers know I'm a gymnast – retired, I mean – I'm guessing a lot of other people will, too. Great...

La Push isn't that large, in fact it's really small, so it doesn't take me that long to get to the school. Once I get there, I keep my eyes glued to the ground as I go to the office. I feel stares burning into me and whispers whirling around me. To be positive, this would happen to any new kid so they might not know. But I guess being positive has never gotten me anywhere.

As I enter the office, I feel really nervous. I've never been in a school office, at least not by myself. And besides what I've seen on TV, I have no idea how public schools work.

"Take a seat, the guidance counselor will be with you in a second," the secretary said in a monotonous voice without even looking up.

"Okay," I say in slight confusion. All I need is a schedule... Taking a seat, I dig out my iPhone. There's a new message.

New Message

From: Carly Patterson

Text: Hey Evs! Good luck on your first day of school! You'll be fine :)

I smile slightly. Over the past few months, Carly has been the one person – besides my parents – I can rely on for anything. She's gone through what I'm going through. I just wish I can be as sure as she is that I will find something outside of gymnastics like she did. Quickly, I text her back before my names called.

To: Carly Patterson

Text: Hey Carls! It's kinda suckin, but it hasn't started so it could get better :) btw, thx, for everything!

The secretary fakes a cough and when I look up, I see her hand extended in my direction. She keeps looking at me like I know what she wants. I'm really confused.

"Give me your phone," she demands in annoyance.

"Excuse me?" I ask, probably sounding completely creeped out. Because I am, and I have no idea why she wants my phone. "Why would I...?" I look over to the boy in the seat beside me in confusion. He looks similar to the guys I saw earlier. Only a little cuter.

But as soon as I see his face I can see that he's laughing at me. Is it okay for staff to take students phones in public school? We make eye contact and suddenly his laughter ceases. He just stares. It's really creepy. Like, creepier than the three boys from earlier. Only a few seconds pass but it seems like forever, before he jumps up from the office chair.

"Fuck!" he hisses, his body slightly trembling, before running out of the office. And I mean running, he like flies out of here.

She sighs but doesn't seem surprised. "We'll deal with Mr. Walker later, now Miss, what's your name? I guess I'll have to write up your detention list before you even know your classes."

"D-detention?" I gasp. I hate getting in trouble. Even in training when our coach left the room and everyone took a break, I always kept working in case they came back in the room. What could I possibly have detention for? "For what?"

"For having your phone out in school hours and refusing to hand it over to a staff member."

"That's a rule?" I ask desperately.

She looks at me as if I have two heads. "Yes."

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" I apologize, practically throwing my phone on her desk. "I had no idea. I mean, I haven't been to public school since I was like seven, and then I didn't have a phone so they didn't have that rule. And I don't really know any rules. But I guess I should've figured that when you asked for it but I didn't and I'm so – " Like I said, I get really nervous when I get in trouble.

She holds up her hand. "I'll let it slide this time. But I suggest you ask the guidance counselor about them. Look here she comes now."

A middle aged lady came out of the door. "Everlie Callahan," she calls.

The secretary immediately has that look of recognition on her face, so I snatch my phone and scurry after the guidance counselor. She motions for me to take a seat on the opposite side of her desk.

"Welcome to La Push High, Miss Callahan," she greeted warmly. "I'm Mrs. Connweller. It's a pleasure to have you at this school." She smiling widely, and I know in two seconds she's going to bring it up. "Having won numerous gold medals, is such an amazing accomplishment."

I smile shyly at her. "Thank you," I say politely, "but if you don't mind could we stick to school rules and my schedule. I'd rather not talk of gymnastics, at this moment." I feel like I'm about to cry if I don't get out of here soon. Suddenly, I don't' think I can handle it here. It's definitely not as bad as in Texas, I'm not surrounded by it. But maybe I'll never be okay with this, or hearing about my gymnastics career. Wow, when did I become so weak?

She seemed to understand, and nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry, I was speaking with your mom before and she seemed to think you were okay."

"It's no big deal," I say quickly. Either I'm a really good actress or my mom is a freaking idiot.

Immediately, she drops it completely and goes into a huge speech about school rules and regulations. I catch most of them, but seriously, no hats? Then she gives me my schedule and a map of the school. Even if I've never been in a school, I've found my way around larger buildings. I should be good. For that part of the day.

"Alright, thank you very much." She gives me some final information and I head out into the hallway. It's a lot more packed than it was when I entered the office. There's still about fifteen minutes until the first class starts so I search for my locker. Luckily, I have used a paddock before.

When I get to my first period class, which is Algebra, there's only one seat left. Quietly I take it, pull out a notebook and stare at it. Maybe my version of making the best out of a year is just ignoring everyone the whole time.

The teacher, Miss Price, called the class to order. Her next words were the ones I've been dreading since my parents informed me I was coming here, "Now, class, I'm sure you all know we have a new student. Everlie, why don't you tell everyone a little about yourself."

Or you could just type it in on Google and save me the embarrassment. I have a feeling saying that or telling her no thank you wouldn't be acceptable. "Um, I'm Everlie. I, uh, was born here and moved to Texas when I was eight. Then, I uh, moved back here."

Way to go, Evs, now you sound like an awkward lunatic...

The teacher took that as a clue that I didn't want to talk about my Olympic career and started going over what we'd be doing this semester. I guess that's how the first day of school goes...

"Hey, weren't you in the Olympics?" A girl in a low cut shirt asks me in an air-headed voice near the end of class. I wouldn't be so mad if she hadn't said it loud enough for the whole class to hear. And now they are all staring.

I shrug, as if it's not a big deal. As if it's not something I'm completely proud of myself for. Which clearly is not the case. "Yeah."

Suddenly, everyone starts asking me a bunch of questions. Honestly, it is worse than a press conference. Luckily before I had a chance to say anything, the bell rings. I shoot them an apologetic smile before rushing out of the class.

Clearly, this town has done some research.

My next two classes, History and English, go by the same way. Questions I don't want to answer, with topics I no longer feel comfortable answering. I know no one could possibly know what I'm going through, and that's not their fault. But is it not common sense that when someone has to stop doing something they love due to injury, they're not going to want to talk about it? Apparently not.

At lunch I find my way to the cafeteria. Like all my classes, it is pretty much full. Near the back of the room, I see a shy looking girl sitting alone at a table. It's about the closest I'll get to an empty table and maybe I'll get lucky and she'll be too shy to talk to me.

"Excuse me?" I ask quietly.

She looks up, and unlike everyone else so far today, she doesn't look at me like I'm a science project. "Yes?"

"Can I sit with you?" I ask awkwardly.

She looks hesitant but then nods.

"Thank you."

We sit eating our lunch in silence. Every so often she looks like she's going to say something, but never does. Eventually, I realize I'm being slightly rude and introduce myself. "I'm Everlie."

"I mean, I'm Kim." She smiles slightly, kind of like she's embarrassed.

Sometime during lunch, the awkwardness subsides, and we begin an actual conversation. It takes me all of two minutes to see that I'm not that interesting to talk to. After all, gymnastics is pretty much the only thing I'm interested in and I don't even want to talk about it. Well, I wouldn't mind meeting someone who is into it and talk about the actual sport...

When the bell rings, she asks me what class I'm in. As it turns out, we had Chemistry together. So far, this class is the most enjoyable. Probably just because since I'm talking to Kim instead of sitting alone, no one really goes out of their way to ask me questions.

Then, last period came. And because everything just happens to be against me lately, it's gym. Since it's the first day, we stay in the classroom rather than the small gymnasium. At first, I think that's a huge plus, then class starts.

Since it's gym and I'm an Olympic Athlete, the teacher decides to make a big deal out of it. After attendance – which I guess they do at the beginning of every class – he asks me to introduce myself. Not that everyone in the class doesn't already know who I am by now. News travels fast in small towns...

"Um, there's not much to tell," I say, half-honestly. Technically there's only one thing about me; however, there's a lot to say about that one thing.

"Now, now, don't be modest!" he exclaims. "Does anyone know what Everlie here has accomplished?"

"It's really not a big deal," I tell him quickly. He, though, is not getting the hint and gestures to one of the girls who raised her hand.

"She won a gold medal in, like, the Olympics," she gloats, as if she's the one who won it. Then she beams at me.

I smile back. She might be a fan. And no matter how much she's embarrassing me, if she's a fan, I'll be nice to her. I owe a lot to my fans. They sent me a lot of get well soon cards and tweets. Even if it doesn't help that much, it's the thought that counts.

"Didn't you win like three?" The girl in front of me turns around and questions.

"Um, four," I admit.

Now, everyone's listening and seems slightly interested, which our teacher notices. After a few more of the same questions I'd heard all day, our teacher suddenly has what he thinks is an excellent idea. "Would anyone like to her performances at the Olympics?"

Everyone agrees and before I know it, my name's being typed in on YouTube and shown to the whole class on the SmartBoard. He shows my Uneven Bars, Vault and Beam events.

"What did you get the other two gold medals in?" a guy on the other side of the room asks.

"All Around, and then we won gold as a Team."

I don't mind answering all the questions that follow; I'm used to them. They're questions I normally get. The teacher puts on some more videos of me. While everyone is watching the videos in amazement, I look around the room. Near the back, I see the boy who was in the office earlier talking to one of his friends.

He looks up and catches me staring; he doesn't seem mad though. He actually smiles. Which is a big difference from swearing and running out of the room. I smile back, blushing madly.

"Why'd you stop?" someone asks, snapping me back to reality.

I blink. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Why'd you quit gymnastics?"

I look at the ground. I knew it would come up eventually, but why in a room full of people? "Um, I was doing my floor routine at a competition and in one of my flips, I didn't go high enough and I crashed." Everyone gasps. Apparently they didn't do too much research. I shrug and force a smile. Like that day doesn't haunt me every night... "I broke my leg and wrist badly so – "

"Paul?"

We all turn our attention to the back of the room where the boy from the office, who's apparently Paul, was shaking – almost like this morning. His friend, who had been the one who spoke, look worried. Then, just like this morning, Paul runs out of the room. Within seconds, his friend is right behind him.

"Paul! Jared! Where are you going?" The teacher calls helplessly then groans and mumbles, "I don't know about those kids."

As if that never happened, everyone turns to me, expecting me to go on. I don't. If they want, they can Google it, because if I keep talking, Paul and his friends won't be the only ones running out of class. Only I'll be doing it crying.

"That really sucks," the girl who asked the question admits.

You have no idea how much. No idea at all.

**Haha, I love Paul :P He's so tempermental! Review maybe? :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews :) I also put a picture of what Everlie looks like on my profile :)**

**Chapter 2**

When school gets over, I go straight to my locker. Since I have no homework, I hastily throw everything in my locker and shut it. On my way out, I pull out my phone and text Carly.

To: Carly Patterson

Text: Frig Car, today sucked so bad! I met one person who actually treated me normally. Ev1 kept asking me questions n one girl asked y I quit :( It's like ev1 thinks I'm completely ok with stopping gym :/

I sigh. Maybe she can make me feel better – I highly doubt it, but it's a shot. Slipping my phone in my shorts pocket, I step outside the doors of the high school.

I notice Kim standing in a group with a bunch of really tall, muscular guys. She sees me and waves. Quickly, I smile back and wave. Since she's pretty much my only friend, I decide to go over and see her. As I get closer, I realize one of the tall guys is Paul, from my gym class and the one with his arm around her is Jared.

"Hey," I greet cheerfully.

"Hey!" she enthuses. "Guys this is Everlie, she's in my chem class. Everlie, this is Jared, Paul, Jacob, Embry, and Quil.

Immediately, I recognize the three other boys as the guys I ran into this morning. I smile at them, and they all mutter "nice to meet you"s and such. Except for Paul, who just keeps staring at me. After the Olympics, I've been used to people staring so I ignore it. His gaze seems different, almost more intense, though. It's scary.

I switch my gaze between Paul and Jared. "So why did you guys just run out of gym class like that?" I ask in interest. Although I haven't been in public school long, I know that that is not acceptable. Plus, it's just plainly weird.

All the boys start laughing hysterically while Kim looks up at Jared and asks in concern, "Why did you leave class?"

Jared just shakes his head, still laughing. Then, he directs at me jokingly, "Paul's got quite a temper, sometimes he just likes to leave. I went to make sure he didn't go kill someone." Well I hope he is joking. If not this Paul guy has some serious issues.

Everyone finds it funny, so I chuckle a bit. Paul, on the other hand looks pissed. "I do not you asshole," he snaps at him, smacking Jared in the back of the head. I cringe slightly, wouldn't that have hurt?

When Paul sees me cringe, he immediately looks at me with wide eyes, as if he's apologizing to me. These reservation folks are really strange... "Okay, then," I say awkwardly, looking at Kim. I'm not exactly sure what to say.

"Don't mind these guys, they're all really weird," she teases. They all glare at her, well except for Jared.

I shrug. Then, I turn to Paul. I have to ask him this, it's been driving me crazy since he ran out of class. "Was it something I said?" I ask curiously.

He instantly becomes extremely pleased. It almost seems like it's because I spoke to him. Which is strange, I doubt he's a gymnastics fan. So why else would he care? "W-w-what do you mean?" he stutters, confused.

It's actually really cute. He almost seems embarrassed. "In class, when you left. Was it something I said."

He stares at me with a deer-in-headlights expression, giving me the feeling that I guessed right. He looks around, trying to think of something to say. "No," he blurts out eventually, "I just really had to go to the bathroom."

The three other boys, Embry, Jake and Quil, double over laughing, while Jared shakes his head. Paul is either a complete wacko or a very bad liar. "And Jared had to help you in the bathroom?" I giggle along with Kim.

Paul's face is as red as a tomato – which believe me is hard when you're Quileute – as he glares at the ground.

"Anyway," I announce, "I should probably get going. It was nice meeting you guys."

"Actually, I have to go to. You mind if I walk home with you?" Kim queries.

I shake my head. "Not at all."

She kisses Jared softly before hurrying over to me. "I'll see you guys tonight!"

They say their goodbyes. In the direction I have to walk, I end up walking passed Paul. I grin up at him, "Have fun in the bathroom."

I don't look up to see his reaction, I just keep walking. From the laughter I heard from the other boys, I could tell he is embarrassed. I almost feel bad, but after all, he was the rude one who ran out in the middle of me talking.

Once we hit the main road, Kim's and my laughter finally ceases. "I hope you're aware they're never going to let him live that down."

I frown instantly at her. "Really? I feel kinda bad now. I didn't mean to – "

"No," she shakes her head, smiling, "it's nothing bad. Promise. If anything, though, Paul might never leave you alone now." There seems to be some hidden meaning behind her smile; however, I ignore it. Maybe I've just become delusional.

"I guess it's a good thing he's cute then," I joke hesitantly. Considering we just met, I'm not sure if that's an appropriate thing to say. After all, he could be her brother or something.

She laughs, though. Seeming almost pleased at my joke. "So how was your first day?"

I groan. "Not too great," I admit. "I mean, no one was mean or anything. It's just they never stopped asking about gymnastics and normally I don't mind but it's just so annoying that they don't get that I don't want to talk about my career. I mean clearly I didn't want it to end so why the hell would I want to talk about it? And then in freaking gym class the teacher showed the whole class my Olym – " Then I remember that Kim and I just met, and she probably doesn't want to know all my problems. Also, she's the only person who hadn't treated me differently today. Maybe that was because she didn't know. What if she doesn't now that she knows? Instantly I blush. "I mean, um, you know just never mind that I said anything."

She grins over at me. "Did you really think I didn't know?"

I shrug. "Well, you were the only person that treated me normally. So if you did know and still treated me like that, that makes you like my favourite person ever."

She laughs. "Well, thank you. But I'm sorry that your day sucked. No one here really knows anything about gymnastics so they don't really understand how much time and effort it takes."

"Tell me about it." There is something behind her tone that intrigues me to ask this question, "Were you in gymnastics?"

She nods. "Nothing like you were, clearly. But yeah, I took lessons in Forks up until a few years ago. I loved it."

"Me too. Believe me, there's nothing I love more. But if you loved it, why'd you quit?"

She shrugs. "My body isn't really the right shape for it, I'm too lanky." Sadly it's true. On average, if you're over 5'4" your chances of being a good gymnast are slim to none. "Plus I was in level seven and I just couldn't get some of the flips on the apparatuses to move up so I figured it was pointless."

"Oh."

"You must think it's stupid. I'm sure you never had that problem." Kim seems embarrassed about telling me that stuff. Immediately I want to make sure she's not, she might be the only person I can talk to in person about gymnastics. Although I wasn't ready to comfortably talk about my career, talking about the actual sport would be really refreshing.

"No way. Everyone has tricks they can't do, or have trouble doing. It took me forever, to get my Gienger perfected. And sometimes, whether you want to or not you just have to quit."

We both sigh wistfully. It may not be nearly to the extent of mine, but she does have some understanding. "So what was your favourite apparatus?"

"Floor," she declares decisively after a moment. "I really liked Beam too though. Bars and Vault always scared me."

I nod. We are the exact opposite. Bars and Vault were my best apparatuses, as well as my favourites. I loved spinning and twisting through the air. Hell, once I was capable of doing upper level flips and tumbling on the Beam I started liking it more too. Floor, however, was always my worst – still really good but nonetheless worst – event. Partially because it was my least favourite.

"I'm the opposite. I just adored Bars; they were like my favourite thing in the world."

She chuckles. "Better than chocolate?"

I laugh, but still nod. "I never ate much junk food since I was training so... yeah."

She shakes her head. "You poor deprived child."

I swat at her playfully. "Whatever."

"This is my house, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

I look around and realize the house she gestured to is right across the street from my house. "Yeah sure. I actually live right across the road so I guess we're neighbours!"

"Awesome!" She sounds genuinely amused. "See ya around, Everlie."

"Bye Kim."

Well, I think I found someone I can talk about gymnastics with at the very least.

Tonight, like every other night, I do my stretches before bed. I'm honestly still as flexible as I was when I was competing. Though I'm certain I don't have as much muscle. Some of the stretches the doctor even recommended and wouldn't hurt my back at all. However, I know some a the leaps and more back oriented stretches were not helping my back. I couldn't help it though, old habits die hard and stretching isn't something I'm about to give up. Just like running.

Once I finish, I lean against my window sill and look out into my backyard. Immediately, I notice a huge freaking gray wolf just chilling underneath my window. I stifle a scream but instantly I'm running downstairs, my arms flailing around, screaming for my parents. "Mom! Dad! There's a huge ass freaking wolf outside! Like huge! You have to look."

They come out of the living room where they were watching some Jennifer Aniston movie. They follow me to the window and much to my dismay, burst out laughing when they don't see anything. "I swear it was right there!"

"Maybe your high-pitched scream scared it away," my dad suggests.

I stick my tongue out at him. "You guys suck, it was right there. You're just too slow."

"Well, I'm glad your imagination is still intact although you're a bit old to be crying wolf."

I pout at them. "I did see it."

"Alright, Sweetie, alright."

"Whatever."

"So Everlie, you were quiet at dinner. How was school?" my dad questions before I make it up the stairs.

I sigh. "Everyone asked a bunch of questions about gym, so it kinda sucked. But I met this one girl, Kim, she lives next door. She's really cool."

"Any boys?" Mom teases.

I roll my eyes. "No, they're all weird." Even though one's really adorable... "Anyway, I'm going to bed. See ya in the morning!"

"We'll actually be gone for work, but have a good day tomorrow. Things will get better."

I nod and make my way upstairs. My mom is a nurse for the hospital in Forks and my dad is an electrician for a company in Forks. I'm pretty sure it's the only electrician company. Forks is almost as small as La Push.

In my bedroom, I go back over to my window for one more peek. I glare down when I notice the same gray wolf there. "You're a stupid wolf," I mutter. "You made me look like an idiot in front of my parents. You could've had the decency to stay until they saw you."

His large head turned to my window and I swear I heard a whining sound. Oh sorry, wolf, did I hurt your stupid feelings?

Oh. My. God. I'm talking to a freaking wolf. My parents are right, I do have problems. Flicking off my light, I curl into a ball under my covers. Suddenly my phone vibrates from beside me.

New Message

From: Carly Patterson

Text: Sorry for the late response, my phone died. I no its cliché but things will get better! Once the initial shock of having a super awesome gymnast at the school passes, they'll treat you normally. Hopefully that person will make a good friend! Anyway, text me after school tmrw! I'm sure it'll be better! Night! Xoxo

I smile slightly. She has one part right, Kim did prove to be a good friend.

To: Carly Patterson

Text: Thanks, Kim the girl I told u bout, is really cool, she even likes gym so I think we'll get along great. I'll text ya tmrw! Night night :) xoxo

To be completely honest, everything still sucks. But maybe if I can find something to occupy my time, it'll be a bit easier.

**Thanks for reading! :)**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Apparently yesterday's nice weather isn't a common occurrence in La Push. It's supposed to rain for the next four days straight. A little rain isn't going to stop me from going on a run though. Running is one of the only physical activities I still have left. As I drag myself out of bed, I throw my dark brown hair into a high pony tail.

Considering it's six in the morning and I'm going to get a shower when I get back, I don't bother cleaning myself up any. I throw on an old pair of gym shorts and my Team USA hoodie and when I get downstairs, I throw on an old pair of running shoes. Since I heard my parents leave about fifteen minutes ago, I knew I was free from any speech of running in the rain.

I place my earphones in my ears, and press play, not paying any attention to what song plays. Throwing my hood up, I jog outside. Luckily, La Push is on Google Maps so I found a nice "running" trail that starts at First Beach and loops back around to it. If I jog straight I'm sure I can make it in forty-five minutes.

Once I get onto the trail, I realize it's not a very popular trail. Although it's still wide enough for me to run through, the shrubbery is definitely overgrown. I don't mind though, it makes me have to lift my legs higher. More exercise.

I figure I'm about half way through the trail since it starts to loop to the right when suddenly I see a blur in the trees to my left. Gasping, I stop in my tracks. Pulling my earphones out, I glance around hastily. Whatever it is, I don't see it now.

"What are you doing in here?" a voice demands from behind me.

Spiraling around, I let out an embarrassingly high-pitched scream. I recognize the figure instantly; it's Paul. Strangely, he's standing there, in the pouring rain, just in jean cut-offs. He doesn't even have shoes on. "Paul?" I breath, laughing slightly. "What the hell? You scared the shit out of me!"

He doesn't laugh along with me. In fact his face is dead serious. "Everlie, do not come in the woods."

"Excuse me?" I exclaim in disbelief. Did he really just tell me where I can and can not be? I start to walk away from him but he jumps in front of me.

"Everlie, you have to listen to me; you can_not _come in the woods. I never want to see you in these woods. Get out of here." His breathing accelerates as if he's trying to calm himself down.

"I'm sorry," I say angrily, "are these your woods? Do you own them Paul? Because unless you do, you cannot tell me not to be here. Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Everlie, it's not safe here. There's... animals. You have to leave." Just like yesterday, he is shaking. "And you shouldn't be in the rain, you could get sick." Even if he sounds sincere, I'm still mad that he thinks he can tell me what to do.

I shake my head, slightly pissed off. "Of course there's animals! It's a fucking forest! Now I don't know how things work here in La Push but from what I know, you can't go around telling people you've known for one day what to do. And it's my choice if I go out in the rain! Not yours! If I get sick, it's my problem."

His trembling increases and he groans in frustration. "Just listen to me, please!"

"You know what Paul," I yell in annoyance, he's taking up my running time and if I stay here any longer I won't make it home in time to get ready for school. "You find me a good running trail and I'll stay out of the woods. Until then, mind your own business."

I take off sprinting down the path. Although I see him disappear into the woods and know if he was following me I would hear him, I can't help but feel like something's following me until I get back to First Beach.

Paul ruined my morning run. I decide to take a bath instead of a shower in an attempt to feel better.. I honestly forgot how much I hate baths, though, and when I get in, I'm out as soon as I'm done cleaning. I rush to finish getting ready, then scarf down a granola bar for breakfast.

Since I'm still running late, I jog to school. It's not very far; a lot shorter than my morning runs. I slide my hood off once I enter the building and sigh. It's at times like these when I wish I had bothered to get my driver's license. I notice Kim standing off to one side of the hallway with Jared, and Paul.

She waves at me and I return with a smile. Then I meet Paul's gaze and glare. He frowns, looking hurt. I resist the urge to stick my tongue out at him and instead I roll my eyes.

My first three periods go by rather nicely. Everyone treats me normally and not like the new shiny toy. It's refreshing; some people actually seem pretty cool. It does seem strange that they go from complete fan girls to not even recognizing me. Believe me, though, I'm not complaining. Although I may have enjoyed it more if Paul hadn't ruined my morning.

I've also got a hang on some of the rules. Like the cell phone thing, you can use it at lunch and break. Which is pretty awesome considering I don't want to wait until three thirty to text Carly.

To: Carly Patterson

Text: Omg, you were so right! Ev1 is treating me normal today :) But this one guy is so annoying I went for a jog in the woods and he came outta no where and was like "get out of the woods there's animals in here" lol can you believe that?

After depositing my morning class's books in my locker and grabbing my lunch and afternoon books, I head to the cafeteria. It doesn't take long for Carly to text me back.

New Message

From: Carly Patterson

Text: That's awesome! I'm glad you're having more fun :) But wow, these ppl seem like freaks! You poor thing, haha

I smile and look around for a seat. Today Kim's not sitting alone, she's sitting with Jared, Embry, Quil and Paul. I frown but walk over anyway. It won't be too hard to ignore Paul. I hope. "Hey," I greet, "can I sit here?"

"Sure," Paul answers, smiling.

I keep looking at Kim until she finally says, "Of course."

"Thanks!" I sit down and notice everyone shooting Paul weird looks. Why would it be strange that I'm not talking to him? We didn't exactly have the best conversation yesterday. "So what's up?"

"Nothing really," Kim responds. "Today any better?"

"Yes." I nod. "A lot."

"That's good. See the people here are easily distracted they just like to make a big deal the first day."

"Thank God," I chuckle. "They would've killed me if they were like that all the time."

A low growl came out of Paul and instantly the table shot him warning looks.

"What's your problem?" I demand. Why is he so strange? I wonder if he's always like this or if it's just around me because Kim said he's a good guy...

He's glaring once again. "I'm starting to think your my problem."

"Oh really?" I challenge, but honestly I'm not offended as I thought I should be. I almost wanted to bicker with him "What did I do to you, Mr. There's-animals-in-the-woods?"

Everyone else seems thoroughly confused by now but Paul smirks, like he's caught onto the fact that I'm amused. "I think the better question is what do you want to do to me?"

I gape; did he really just say that? In front of all of these people! Wanting to talk to him is gone. Maybe those kinds of jokes are normal for people here, but to me they're not.. "Someone's got an ego on him."

He grins, not getting that he's completely just pissed me off. "Thought you weren't going to talk to me." 

I mimic locking my mouth shut with a key and glare at him.

"You're immature," he says finally.

"And you're an asshole," I hiss. "Glad we got the characterization over with." I turn on my heel, about to storm off when he exclaims, "Wait, Everlie stop, please."

Something in his voice makes me turn around. I raise an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. He doesn't. "Well, if you have nothing to say, then I guess there's no sense of us speaking at all."

"Please that's not – "

I shake my head and he stops. "I'll talk to you when you get me those paths. Until then leave me alone." I tramp away, not looking back. I'm already an emotional wreck from gymnastics, and Paul's mood swings are just turning me into a bitch.

I'm sitting on the bleachers in gym class, tying my sneakers. Paul walks up and sits beside me, a piece of paper in his hand.

I frown, slightly confused. "In case you didn't get it at lunch, I don't really wanna talk to you."

"No, no, no," he says grinning. "You said you didn't want to talk to me until I got you those trails. And I did."

"Really?" I look up, doubting him.

He hands me the paper. I see the words La Push in the top left corner of the paper and then underneath there's a map with a bunch of high-lighted, curving lines. I stare at it in disbelief. "I can't believe you did this," I whisper, smiling.

He shrugs, then says awkwardly, "The yellow high-lighted ones are about the same length as the one you were on this morning and the orange ones are a bit shorter."

There has to be at least ten different paths high-lighted on the map. There is even a legend down in the corner in scribbled handwriting. I know I should be mad at him, but the gesture is just so sweet. To me at least. "You did this all by yourself?"

He blushes slightly. "Not completely. I had to get Kim to tell me where you lived so I could mark it." He points to a small "x" marked where my house is. "It's just so you have some idea where the trails actually are..."

"You did all this so I would talk to you?" I wonder.

He shrugs. "Also, because I felt bad about... freaking at you this morning. I know you don't think it's my business, but it's really dangerous in there and you should really stay out."

It still annoys me that he's telling me what I should do when he doesn't know me but he seems genuinely concerned. And it's not like his reason isn't reasonable if I actually think of it. Plus he went through all that trouble to get these paths... "Well, I guess now that I have these I won't need to," I laugh, waving the map around.

He grins. "Good to hear."

All of a sudden, the same girl that had been the to first ask me about the Olympics yesterday walks by and sneers at me. "Wow, Paul, you're working awfully hard just to get in _her_ pants."

I flinch. Is this the same girl from yesterday? Gosh... Clearly she was being fake then. Paul glares at her, though, and flips her off. But by the look on his face, I know she hit a nerve.

That's when I realize, no matter how nice Paul may be able to be to me, I don't know him. Clearly, I don't know him at all.

Quickly he turns to me. "Look Everlie, what she said – "

I hold up my hands. "No explanation needed, Paul. We're just friends and what you do behind closed doors is none of my business."

Our teacher calls us to the middle of the gymnasium and I force a smile. "But I'm not that kind of girl, Paul. And if that's all your looking for, please leave me alone."

I start to walk to the middle but his hand on my shoulder stops me. "It's not what I'm looking for. Not out of you. Not anymore."

I smile teasingly back at him. "Good to hear."

A grin spreads across his face and he laughs. God, this boy is driving me crazy. As soon as I decide to hate him, he makes me want to like him. This is why I love gymnastics. It's straight forward, no complications unless you make them. But in real life, complications come without provocation.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The rest of my first week went over really well. I still miss my old life like crazy but I'm getting better at plastering a smile on my face. Paul and I had gone three whole days without arguing – I think he is just pleased that I'm actually using his map. I even made it to the finals of my gym class's chin up competition. Yeah, Paul beat me. But hey, I beat every other guy in the class and they're all athletes. At least I still have some of my gymnastics strength.

Despite planning to sleep in on Saturday, here I am, awake at six o'clock in the morning. Old habits truly do die hard... Putting on my usual running shorts, hoodie and sneakers, I head out the back door in an attempt to not wake up my parents.

I run down one of the longer paths on Paul's map and eventually find myself at First Beach. This town really revolves around this beach. I'm convinced. I take a seat on a large rock near the shore and stare out at the ocean. It is beautiful. Also, it's nice to just relax. Since I'd done my homework last night, I'm free for the weekend.

"Hey, what're you doing here?"

Glancing up, I see Paul standing there, smiling at me. "Why?" I ask, grinning, "Am I not allowed here either?"

"Hmm," he ponders, "I'll have to think."

Playfully, I throw some sand at him. "You better think the right answer then."

"So what are you doing today?" he asks, almost nervously. Which from what I know about Paul, is very unlike him.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Have you been to Port Angeles lately?" He takes a seat on the rock beside me.

"When I was seven," I reply simply.

He shoves me lightly. "Smartass."

I giggle, shoving him back. "God, you're hot!" I exclaim as our skin makes contact.

At first he looks caught off guard, but then his cocky grin forms on his face. "Why thank you very much. You're not too bad yourself." He winks at me.

My face flushes red and I feel like I'm about to die of embarrassment. "I meant your skin is really hot!" I exclaim in the stupid high-pitched way my voice comes out when I'm nervous, scared or embarrassed. Why do you think I used to sound like a chipmunk in all my interviews before big competitions.

"You're really cute when you're embarrassed," he says softly.

I stare at the ground. "Yeah right," I tell him in disbelief.

He sighs in slight frustration. "Why don't you believe me when I compliment you?"

I shrug. "I don't believe lies."

"But they're not lies."

I roll my eyes. "No offense, Paul. I know you're just trying to be nice and all, but I know I'm not pretty, or cute, or that interesting. You don't have to pretend."

He shakes his head and now it's his turn to roll his eyes. "First off you're beautiful. Secondly, I find you very interesting."

I try to ignore the fact that he just called me beautiful. No guy has ever told me that before, at least not to my face. "Really? So you've known me for five days and you haven't noticed that I have no interests or knowledge of anything besides gymnastics." It is embarrassing, but it's true.

"You never really mention gymnastics," he admits. _Yeah, maybe because it kills me to._ Even the initial joy I'd gotten from talking about gymnastics with Kim passed. It still hurts. I still feel like crap. I just can't get it off my mind. He seems to ponder what else he's noticed I like. "You like running."

"I needed to run to stay in shape for gymnastics."

"Oh." He bites his lip. "You, uh..."

"See?"

He shakes his head. "You like driving me crazy."

I roll my eyes, laughing. Clearly he doesn't realize _he _is the one who's driving me crazy. "No, I don't _like _driving you crazy."

He smirks. "Well, you're fucking good at it."

I smile up at him. "I'm good at a lot of things."

He stands up from the rock and groans. "There you go again."

I chuckle. "If that drives you crazy, I'm convinced you have issues."

He grins down at me for a few moments – making me blush even more – and then he asks, "Do you want to come with me or not?"

I bite my lip. I've never gone anywhere with a boy before. Hell I've never really done anything before. I've had one boyfriend who was a gymnast on the Men's team and the farthest we had gone was just kissing. I guess I'm jumping to conclusions. He just asked me to go hang out. No big deal. Well, to normal people at least. But what's the harm?

_All the rumours you've heard about him in the past three days!_ It's true, from what I've heard about Paul, I know I should be running. But I can't. Something makes me want to stay. Need to stay. "Sure, but I probably smell and look like crap."

"I think you look pretty hot all sweaty," he teases.

I get up off the rock and start walking toward my house. In an attempt to hide my blush, I advert my eyes to the ground. "Can you please stop with all the sexual jokes?" I whisper, trying not to sound like a preteen. But they did scare me and make me feel uncomfortable. Maybe gymnastics didn't just stunt my growth, it stunted my social development.

He seems shocked, but nods. "Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean..."

I shrug. "Doesn't matter. Do you wanna wait here?"

He looks hurt by my words so I quickly say, "No, I mean, my parents are home and they'll probably embarrass the hell out of me. I've never really brought a guy friend home before so..."

He seems overly pleased by that fact and walks beside me as we head back to my house. "I don't mind, maybe I'll get to see you blush again."

"Oh, shut up!"

We get to my house and find that my parents are sitting at the island in the kitchen. "Hey, Evie, how was your run?" my mom greets. Then she sees Paul and sends me a questioning glance. 

"It was good," I reply. "Um, Mom, Dad, this is Paul. He's a friend from school. I ran into him at the beach so we're gonna go to Port Angeles if that's okay?" Then feeling like I should formally introduce them more. "Paul, this is my Mom and Dad."

He smiles charmingly at them. "It's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Callaghan."

I bite back a scoff. Suck up. They return the greeting. "Well, I'm going to go get ready. So please, don't make him want to run away screaming." All three of them laugh, like I'm joking. I'm not. "And don't show him anything!" I hope they hint that I mean my medals. That's always the first thing my parents want to show our guests.

"Alright, hurry, so we don't torture your friend too badly," my dad jokes.

I glare at him and hiss as quietly again, hoping Paul won't hear me, "Please don't embarrass me." However, I'm certain I hear him chuckling.

With that I run up the stairs and grab some clothes from my room. I can hear them talking downstairs so I rush my shower and throw on my skinny jeans and "If gymnastics was easy they'd call it Football" hoodie. Since I retired from gymnastics, I've realized how little actual shirts I have. Just tank tops and leotards.

I throw my hair into a high ponytail and put a headband on so when it dries it won't go all frizzy. Leaving the bathroom, I go to the staircase. "Paul!" I call, "If you wanna stop being tortured by my parents you can come up here! I'm almost ready."

"I guess that's my cue," he laughs, then I see him coming up the stairs. Guess the ten minutes they were down there couldn't have gone that badly. I stroll into my room, over to my vanity.

He follows me in and I can tell he's surprised at how bare my room is. There's my bed, dresser, vanity and about ten boxes in the corner filled with gymnastics posters, leotards, trophies, medals, pictures and a bunch of other stuff. The only things that are technically out are my make-up, accessories, hygiene items and my "jewelery" box that has all my medals, pictures, and souvenirs from the Olympics.

I sit at my vanity and start to put on a little make up. I don't want to put too much on, but I also don't want to look like crap. "Very decorative, huh?" I joke.

He chuckles. "I have to admit, I did expect more."

I shrug, turning around in my seat to face him. "All my stuff," I gesture to the boxes, "is gymnastics related so it's not the greatest reminder that my life's over."

He frowns immediately and comes over to me. He kneels down and cups the side of my face. "Please don't say your life is over. It can't be that bad. I'm sorry about what happened with gymnastics but it's not like that's the entire world."

I sigh and break eye contact. Another reminder that we don't know each other at all. I know he's trying to be caring but bringing gymnastics into a conversation just puts a damper on things now. "I didn't mean my actual life," I whisper, only to get that sad look off his face. I'm right, the best part of my life is over. I turn back to the vanity and check over my make up. "Can we talk about something else?"

He nods, jolting upright. "Can I see your medals?"

I smile pulls at my lips. Okay, maybe not _all _gymnastics topics were downers. Talking about the Olympics almost always makes me happy.

"Okay," I exclaim, suddenly all giggly. I pull over my jewelery box and open the top. My pictures and souvenirs are all in the top compartment, so I set them aside on the vanity top and open the part to my medals. I see Paul eying the photo book. Reaching out to grab it, I hand it over to him. "I'm guessing you want to see all the hot girls in leos?"

He rolls his eyes. "You never stop making me seem like a pig, huh?" He smiles at me though so I know he's joking.

"A girl's work is never done," I chirp.

We flip through the book. He stops at the picture of me doing a Gienger on the Uneven Bars. "Hows is it possible for your body to even bend that way?" he breaths in disbelief.

I laugh. "It's actually not that complicated, it's just the time that the picture was taken."

He nods and we continue through the rest or the album. He asks a few questions on some of the mid-event shots of my teammates and I and asks who everyone is. "So which girls your favourite?" I ask jokingly.

"Good question," he pretends to ponder, "I'd have to say the girl in the navy leotard."

I blush madly, once again. "Bull. Nastia and Shawn are way prettier than me. And if you deny that I will never believe you again."

"Well I guess we'll have to deal with you never believing me but that doesn't change my mind. You're more beautiful than any other girl. In the Olympics, in La Push, anywhere." He leans in, never breaking eye contact with me. My breathing accelerates but as soon as he gets just inches away from my face, I turn my head away. The look on his face makes me want to turn it back and kiss him, he looks heartbroken. But I know I can't without humiliating myself. My limited experience isn't even good kissing, it's just quick pecks. He'd run away if he knew how inexperienced I am. Especially if those rumours about him are true.

"Do you, uh, want to see the medals?"

"Oh, um, yeah, of course," he stutters.

Quickly, I compose myself and grab the first medal. "This is my Team gold medal." I'm back to smiling and cheerful again. These medals really cheer me up. I pull out the next few. "And these are my gold medals in Uneven Bars, Vault and then the All-Around competition." He seems amazed – which doesn't surprise me – as if they weren't real to him until he saw them. I smile, laying them on my vanity and grabbing my silver medal. "This is my medal for the Beam."

"Wow, that's just... amazing."

I smile at him. "Thank you. I'm really proud of them." Then I beam up at him, extremely proudly as I pull out my bronze medal. "And this is my bronze medal for my Floor Exercise!" I say excitedly, almost bouncing in my seat.

He smiles at me. "You're so cute," he mumbles quietly before remarking, "Is it just me or are you more proud of your bronze than all your golds?"

I grin shyly. "I really am." He asks why and I shrug. "All my junior career, I never placed in my Floor Exercise. Ever. And everyone – judges, coaches, spectators – told me that my floor skills just weren't high enough to place in an international competition. When I started my senior career, I added a few more moves, a couple F and G rated ones," the one that pretty much ended my career, to name one, "which upped the difficulty and I started placing higher. But by this time everyone had convinced me that I wasn't good enough to do it. And when I got the bronze, I proved all those people wrong. I proved to myself that I could do it." I look up at him and notice he's actually listening and seems interested in what I'm saying. "And that will always mean more to me than any gold medal."

"You're amazing," he whispers.

I stand up, giggling. "You're not too bad yourself. Now come on, everything will be closed by the time we actually get to Port Angeles!"

The drive to Port Angeles isn't as long as I remember which is great. We play twenty questions and I learn some trivial things about his favourite colours, foods, and activities. I'm too nervous to ask him anything deeper.

We go see a movie. He let's me choose and luckily I actually know one of the movies. I make him sit through Love Happens because I'd probably scream and cry all through the movie. He doesn't complain besides teasing comments though.

Afterward we go to the mall. We don't buy anything but we go through all the department stores, playing and joking around with items we find amusing. Before I know it, it's a little before five. "Wow," I sigh, "we've been here for like seven hours. I can't believe that."

"Time flies when you're with awesome people like myself," he jokes, grinning cockily.

Instead of teasing back, I smile. "You're right, you are pretty awesome." He looks like he's just won the lottery, and I chuckle. He may think I act cute, but he has no idea how cute he acts. "Come on," I exclaim, dragging him in the direction that the sign saying food court is pointing, "I'm hungry."

We stop at Subway and I order a six inch cold cut, while Paul orders two twelve inch subs. After we get a food and drinks, we sit down in the food court. I eye his food, not sure how he's going to eat all of it. "You sure have a big appetite."

He shrugs, taking a bite out of his sub. "Hey, I'm four times the size of you; therefore, I can eat four times as much as you without it being gross."

I snort. "Okay, fair enough."

We eat in a comfortable silence. When I'm almost done, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look up to see a girl who can't be more than nine years old smiling shyly at me. She's wearing a gymnastics sweater and I instantly know what she wants.

"Hi," I greet, smiling.

"Hi," she says, eyes shining, "Are you Everlie Callahan?"

I chuckle. " I sure am."

"Can I have your autograph? You were my favourite gymnast on the Olympic team!"

I take the book mark that she hands me that happens to have a picture of me beaming with my gold medal. She came prepared. "Of course. And thank you! What's your name?"

"Candace."

"Oh, that's a pretty name," I sign the bookmark, adding a little note to her. "Do you do gymnastics?"

She takes the book mark back, nodding furiously. "Yes!"

"Cool! Where?" 

"At Port Angeles Gymnastics Academy," she enthuses, smiling brightly.

"Awesome! I used to do meets there," I tell her brightly. "The coaches there are really nice."

She continues nodding and smiling. Then who I assume is her mother calls her name. "I have to go, but thank you so much!"

"No problem. It was nice meeting you Candace!"

I look back at Paul to see him staring at me with a loving expression on his face. "What?" I laugh. "She's a fan, what could I have said."

He shakes his head slightly. "I never said it was bad. It was cute. In fact, I thought you were adorable."

I blush. "You know, for a perverted jerkface, you are extremely corny."

He gets up, wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me out of my seat. "C'mon you, let's go before I decide to leave you here." We throw out our trash and then start back to his truck.

We continue our game of twenty questions on the way back. Finally, we pull into my drive way. However, I still have my last question left and I won't waste it like I did the others. "My turn," I whisper, "Are all those rumours true?"

His head snaps toward me and he sighs. His face is stiff but he doesn't answer.

So I repeat, "Are the rumours about you... sleeping with every girl you can true?"

He rests his head in his hands and mumbles, "Yes."

I bite my lip. "Okay," I say quietly.

"Please don't be mad, Ev. I swear I'm not like that anymore. Please believe me."

I wasn't sure if I did or not, but I didn't really cared. This is the most fun time I've had since my accident. And that was thanks to Paul. "Well, I better go inside."

He looks up, his face looks devastated so I smile at him. "I had so much fun today Paul. I'm glad you asked me to come. Thank you so much."

He smiles happily. "Anytime."

I chuckle and kiss him on the cheek. "Good night Paul."


	6. Chapter 5

It's Sunday afternoon and instead of staying inside all day doing nothing more productive than watching YouTube videos, I decide to call Kim. She gave me her number on Thursday. Although I know she won't mind me calling her, I still get nervous. I hate calling people on the phone it's so awkward.

The phone rings four times before someone picks up, "Hello?" an unfamiliar voice answers.

"Hi, is Kim there?"

"Yup, just one second," she replies. "Kim!"

I hear footsteps running down the stairs and the shuffling of the phone before Kim says, "Hello?"

"Hi, Kim. It's Everlie." I bite my lip awkwardly. "I was wondering if you were doing anything today?"

"Nope, not at all. Did you wanna hang out?" she asks.

"Yeah, sure." I'm not really sure what she likes to do so I'm not sure where to meet, or whatever.

"Cool, wanna meet me outside and we can just go from there?" she suggests.

"Sure I'll be out in a few."

"Okay!" she cheers. "Bye!"

"Bye," I laugh, hanging up the phone. I grab a sweater and head out my front door. She's leaving her house as I cross the street. I suggest we go to the beach, which she agrees to.

Once we're at the beach, we each sit down in the gritty sand. Just like yesterday, the ocean water is pretty and calming. "So how was your day yesterday?" she asks knowingly.

I smile slightly, blushing. Did she know I hung out with Paul? If so, he must have told Jared. That I'm sure is not a bad thing. "Pretty good. I hung out with Paul."

"And how'd it go?" she demands excitedly.

"Good, I think. I had a lot of fun. We went to see a movie and then hung out at the mall."

"So what do you think of Paul?" she wonders casually.

I shrug, not sure what to say. I know I like him, but I'm not sure if that's something I want to tell people. "He's nice. A little cocky, I guess." I laugh.

She nods. "That's an understatement, believe me. But he is a great guy."

"Then why don't you go out with him if he's such a great guy," I joke. 

She rolls her eyes and makes a face. "That is so disgusting."

"Why?" I ask. "He's pretty cute."

"So is Jared."

I shake my head. "No way, Paul is way more attractive than Jared."

"Oh really?" she challenges, smiling.

I giggle uncontrollably. "Oh yeah. There's no doubt."

She rolls her eyes again. "Whatever. To you maybe." I can tell she's not mad. She actually seems pretty pleased about the fact which is weird. She always seems happy every time I compliment Paul. "So, seriously, give me some details! You really suck at girl talk."

I laugh, knowing she's right. I mean, if the conversation is about gymnastics, healthy diets, routines, or school, I'm fine. But I've never really talked with girls about boys before. Really, none of us had time for boyfriends and even when we had crushes, we either didn't have the time to talk about them, or just didn't know what to say about it. We're not exactly that experienced.

"Well, then help me with it. What am I supposed to be saying?"

"Oh, I don't know," she ponders and then continues dramatically, "_I love Paul so much. He's so hot! I just want him to kiss me and –_"

"Okay! Okay!" I exclaim uncomfortably. "That's enough! I so don't want to talk about that. And, I didn't even tell you I like him, you're just assuming. Maybe I hate his guts."

She smirks, as if she knows I'm bluffing. Am I that bad of a liar? "But you don't."

I blush, glancing at the sand. "No."

"And you do like him?"

I shrug slightly, not sure what to say. "I... don't know."

She chuckles, shaking her head at me. "Okay, well, you think he's cute. You're attracted to him. You said he's nice and funny. You also said you had a great time with him. It sounds to me like you like him. But, you know, it's your feeling, you know best."

She's definitely right. I do like him. But I'm definitely not sure if she will understand why I don't want to be more than friends. Why I'm scared to. "How many boyfriends have you ever had Kim?" I ask quickly, trying to get passed the awkward part."

She looks confused, but answers, "Just one."

I nod. _Maybe _she might understand, then. "How many has Jared had?"

Still looking extremely confused, she responds, "I'm not exactly sure, quite a few."

Sounds like she might just understand. "So when you guys first got together, weren't you scared that you didn't know anything about the... sexual parts of relationships, and he knew a lot?"

Suddenly, realization takes over her face, and she smiles understandingly. "So you're scared," she clarifies, "that he's not going to like you if you're not a good kisser?"

My face becomes more red and I fix my gaze out on the ocean. "Kinda, but it's not just _kissing_," I hint.

She envelopes me in a comforting hug. After a second I hug her back. "I'm sorry, I'll drop the Paul thing. I do know how you feel. It's just, he really likes you, and I know his past doesn't really help with your worries but I'm sure he would understand. But if you're not ready, it's not a big deal." 

"Probably is to him," I mumble.

"What do you mean?"

"He tried to kiss me yesterday... and I kind of just looked away and acted like it didn't happen. I don't think he liked that too much."

All of a sudden, Kim looks like she wants to kick Paul's ass. Did I phrase that wrong? "What did he say? Was he angry? Was he mean? Because if he was, I'm going to go to his house and – "

I burst out into laughter for a second. "No, he didn't. He just let it drop but he looked _so _freaking sad. It sucked."

She rolls her eyes, laughing, "Good. But like I said, it's not a big deal. It's whenever _you're _ready. He'll wait. And if he doesn't, then he's not worth it." Something about her expression makes me think she does believe he'll wait, and even if that's not the case, it's nice to think she believes it.

"Thanks." I smile slightly. "So, there must be another aspect of 'girl talk' we can talk about." I really would like to change the subject at this moment...

"Well there's a lot of things..."

We spend most of the rest of the day lazing on the beach, talking about school, make up, and good shopping places in the surrounding cities, as well as movies, music and celebrities. When it's around supper time, she asks if I want to go with her to her friend Emily's place for supper. I agree and we continue talking about celebrities on our way there.

"Can you believe how stupid that girl is?" she exclaims. "I mean seriously, if it was actually his kid, he'd be more likely to pay for the baby if the story wasn't floating around the news."

"I know," I agree, "And the whole statutory rape thing is kind of obvious too. How stupid can you be? I don't think I'll ever understand how some people are allowed to become parents."

She nods. As we turn up the driveway to a small cottage – that I assume is Emily's – she looks at me and says, "Oh, please don't stare at Emily. There was an accident..."

Before I can ask for her to elaborate, we're at the cottage and she enters. Hesitantly, I follow suit. Shouldn't we at least knock?

"Hey guys," Kim greets, walking into the kitchen.

I follow shyly behind her as I realize, there's about ten other people in the small kitchen besides Emily. This isn't what I expected. Some of the guys I recognize immediately, like Paul, as well as Jared and Embry, Quil and Jake. There's a few younger looking boys – who are still freaking massive – that I recognize but honestly can't name them. There's also a very pissed off looking girl at the table in the chair furthest in the corner.

"This is Everlie," she continues. "Ev, this is Emily." Kim gestures to the woman at the oven. She turns around and smiles at me; I immediately know what Kim meant about not staring. She has three scars marred down the side of her face. She's still quite pretty though. I smile back. "This is Sam." The guy who's standing beside Emily smiles warmly at me as well. "That's Leah." She nods to the grouchy girl in the corner. I smile at her but just receive a glare. I notice Paul return her glare to her. "These guys are Brady, Seth, and Collin." Those were the boys I'd seen around school before. "You already know, Embry, Quil, Jake, Jare and, of course, Paul."

Everyone in the rooms laughs as she says this and I feel my face flush bright red. I know I have nothing to be ashamed of, but I still feel like I do. "It's, uh, nice to meet you all," I cough out awkwardly. They all seem to have the same knowing smirk that Kim always has. Well, except for the Leah girl; I'm pretty certain she's trying to pretend like she's not here at all.

They all respond with variations of what I said and Emily offers Kim and I to take a seat. There's only one seat left so Kim gives it to me and takes a seat on Jared's lap.

Conversations continue on as everyone eats out of the huge piles of food in front of them. The sight is enough to make me refuse Emily's attempts to feed me.

"Hey," Paul utters. I glance up to see that smirk on his face and can't help but grin at him.

"Hey."

"Kim drag you here against your will?" he teases.

I laugh; Kim reaches across the table to swat at him. "Actually," I respond, "I didn't know there'd be such a full house when I accepted the offer."

"Do you mind?" he asks in concern.

I laugh awkwardly, noticing that everyone is listening to our conversation. "No."

Suddenly everyone's attention turns to me. "So, you're the girl we've heard so much about," Seth, I believe, says.

I shrug. "I don't know."

"Guys, leave her alone," Paul whines. They don't.

"Paul talks about you all the time," Collin continues.

I blush, averting my gaze to the ground. "Shut it," Paul complains, looking at Sam for help. He just shakes his head, laughing.

"Seriously you like never leave his mind," the boy I think is Brady exclaims.

I chuckle. "And did you read his mind to find that out?"

Everyone bursts out laughing, which I don't understand because my jokes aren't exactly funny. "Anyway, at least now we can understand why he talks about you so much."

Paul growls at the three boys, and although it's kinda scary, it's also kind of adorable. "If you don't shut up right now you won't have a tongue to talk with."

I shove Paul lightly. "That's mean!"

"Yeah, Paul, that's mean," Embry mocks, joining in on the younger boys' fun.

Paul, looking really pissed now – he really does have a temper – chucks an orange that is in a bowl on the table at Embry's head. It explodes, drenching him in orange juice. I gape, attempting not to laugh. Paul looks swiftly down at me. "Wanna get out of here?"

I look beside me to Kim. She smiles encouragingly at me. I don't want to just leave, especially since Kim is the one that invited me. "Sure."

"Ask her about the bonfire," I hear Sam call as we make our way out the door.

What bonfire?


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey guys :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed :) **

**Chapter 6**

After making our escape out of Emily's house, Paul and I walk down to First Beach. Surprisingly, the beach is nearly deserted. We walk along the shore for awhile, not speaking. It feels nice though. Almost nervously, I feel him brush his hand against mine before holding it lightly.

I think about pulling away, but then give his a gentle squeeze and smile at him. He grins back widely. "So those kids sure piss you off quite easily." I chuckle. "Or maybe you're just a spaz."

"You better watch it, little lady, I can be quite scary," he threatens jokingly.

I slip my hand out of his, put my hands on my hips, and grin up at him. "Oh really? Prove it?" I challenge.

Within seconds, he has me flung over his shoulder and is walking into the water. I flail around, as I kick and scream for him to put me down. The whole time laughing uncontrollably.

He just smiles and walks in until he's about at his knees. "Now," he says triumphantly, "are you going to be a good girl or am I going to have to drop you in this freezing ocean?"

"I'll be good! I'll be good!" I pant between giggles. Once I'm safely put down onto land, I stop giggling. As he puts me down, Paul doesn't let go of me. In fact, he slides his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him. As much as I want to feel awkward, and know I should, I just don't. I feel warm and safe.

"You're so beautiful," he whispers.

I blush, turning my head away from his gaze. Then, not sure what I should say in response, I just laugh and tell him, "Come on, let's do something."

He follows me as I sit down onto the gritty sand and cross my legs. He doesn't sit down but stands in front of me, pondering. "Well it's too cold for you to swim." I note how he says 'you' not 'us'. "And I don't think you'd want to go to my house."

"Paul..." I say, suddenly nervous.

He holds up his hands in defense, a silly grin on his face. "I'm completely just kidding. Really."

I smile briefly at him before asking, "So then what is there for us to do?"

"Oh, I know," he exclaims. He turns around and does the most pathetic attempt for a cart wheel I've ever seen, then he ends it with an even worse mock of the pose gymnasts do at the end of their routines. "How'd I do?"

I burst out laughing. "Th-that." I'm still laughing too hard to make out proper sentences so I wait until it subsides. "Wow, that was, um, well, uh." I laugh some more. "Let me show you how it's done."

I pull myself up and smile at him. Then, I do my 'gymnast's run' and tumble out full twisting double back before doing a much more proper landing pose towards Paul. I smile brightly. That was the first time I'd really done anything since my fall. And it felt amazing. Sadly I knew I really couldn't do much more... I glance up back at Paul.

His eyes are bulging out of his head. He looks quite amazed; clearly he wasn't watching my Olympic videos that were shown in gym class. "That was amazing."

I snort. "Hardly. That's a pretty simple move and considering how long it's been since I've done anything like it, it was really sloppy."

He's still awestruck but manages to ask, "I thought you couldn't do that anymore?"

I shrug, walking back over to him. "Physically I can, I'm just not supposed to. Like once every few months won't hurt but without training for like seven hours a day, it's hard to do the stuff I used to do presentably. So I can't do any competitive stuff. Or even like an hour in the gym a week. Which sucks but I have to get over it... so I'm told."

"So why can't you do it again?" he asks curiously.

"You know you can just google it," I tease, he still seems curious so I decide to tell him anyway. "I have bulging disks in my back." He seems horrified at this, like I just told him I'm dying. I quickly add, "It isn't going to affect me now, but if I would've kept doing gymnastics then I wouldn't be able to walk when I'm older. Most likely."

"That's horrible."

I frown. "Tell me about it."

"You miss it?"

I nod. "More than you will ever imagine."

He shoots me a sympathetic look before saying, "I'm so sorry. Is that why you don't like talking about it?"

"Gymnastics is all I ever did, it's all I really know so it sucks that after all those years I can't do it. I don't really mind this. But on the first day when everyone kept asking about it, yeah, that really sucked."

"It must have sucked having our gym teacher play those videos then," he says thoughtfully.

Wanting to get off this topic, I tease, "Which you clearly didn't watch because you thought what I just did was incredible."

"Caught me," he laughs. "But I still think it's incredible."

"Please, I could do that when I was six."

"Seriously?"

"Yup," I respond. "So what's this bonfire Sam was talking about when we left?"

"Oh," he says, nervous again. "Well, we're having this bonfire tomorrow night. It's just all of us hanging out and listening to tribe legends and shit. But if you wanna come that would be cool. Kim will be there."

I chuckle at how cute he is when he's nervous. It's a lot different from the Paul I met just a few days ago. "Well, I guess I have to ask my parents," I reply sounding like an idiot. What teenager admits to asking their parents for permission. "But if they say yes, sure."

"Awesome!" he enthuses. "You want me to walk you home?"

I shrug. "It's okay, I might go for a little run first." Immediately he looks sad so I pull him in for a good bye hug. He holds me close.

"Okay."

He's still looking pretty sad and for once I have the courage to do what I really want to do. I smile nervously at him, and then reach up and press my lips to his. He kisses me back instantly and although it's short, and not like the heated ones he's probably used to, it makes my knees weak as I pull away.

He smiles down at me like he just won the lottery.

I giggle. "I'll text you if my parents say yes. Good night." I wave before starting to jog out to the main road.

"Night!" I hear him call after me.

o.o

Paul's POV

I grin widely as I watch Everlie leave. Her little ass sways back and forth with her hips as she does that strange run of hers. God, she's perfect. She's so hot, and adorable.

And she fucking kissed me. She kissed me. Even though it wasn't a long kiss or anything, my lips actually were tingling. Wow, if simple kissing is this amazing with your imprint, I can't imagine what the sex will be like.

Not that I'll probably get there for a while. But I can wait. And if she keeps kissing me, I'm pretty sure it won't be too painful of a wait.

She fucking kissed me.

Whooping, I charge back to Emily's in full speed. At human form at least. I didn't want to phase in case she texted me back with her parents' answer. I barged into the house with a huge grin on my face to see everyone pretty much where they were when we left. Except Embry didn't have orange juice on him. Too bad.

"Hey guys," I greet, shooing Kim onto Jared's lap so I can have my seat back.

They all reply but most of the wolves are eating still. Believe me, I will be soon, too. "Where's Everlie?" Kim asks.

"She went home," I say cheerfully. Normally, I guess I would be sad that my imprint left, but I'm just too happy right now.

"And you're happy about that?" Jared asks. Everyone else seems pretty curious too. I don't see why, it's not like they won't know as soon as we phase.

I shrug. "I'm just in a good mood."

"Someone just got laid," Quil announces as if that's the only reason I could be happy. Which, last week, would have been true.

All the guys laugh, oh and Leah, too. But Emily looks concerned – she probably wants to give me a speech on how girls aren't sex toys, like I'd treat Everlie like that – and Kim looks like she's about to rip my head off.

"You better not have," she almost yells at me angrily. Clearly her and Ev are really close. She never gets this mad...

"God, Kim, calm down," I laugh. "No, we didn't do it."

"That's surprising," Brady mumbles. I flip him off.

Kim sighs in relief. "So then why are you so happy."

"We kissed," I replied happily. I am so whipped, since when am I proud to announce a simple kiss? Who cares, it was a damn good kiss.

"You kissed her?" Kim exclaimed. "Did she kiss you back? Did she freak out? Is that why she left?" She rambles off a bunch of similar questions before I stop her.

"Actually," I interrupt, grinning, "she kissed me." Can honestly say I've never saw Kim or Emily that excited in my life.

o.o

Everlie's POV

My parents agreed to let me go to the bonfire tonight. The fact that the tribe counsel will be there is probably what made them say yes. After all, what are the chances of them allowing anything inappropriate to happen. They even said I can stay out until midnight, which is a lot later than I thought they would allow.

Of course my dad wasn't too pleased at first when he found out Paul is the one who invited me – which is strange because until lately, my dad had nothing but good things to say about Paul. Clearly he's been asking around...

Kim and I are walking over together since she lives right across the road, and in fact she should be here any minute. My phone beeps from my plaid peacoat's pocket pocket.

New Message

From: Carly Patterson

Text: Have fun tonight :) But not too much, I do not want to hear any naughty stories about this Paul boy ;) haha

I laugh, rolling my eyes. Leave it to Carly to make a simple kiss into a dirty situation. My mom calls me from downstairs, saying Kim is here. "Okay, be there in a sec!" I yell. I make sure I have everything in my bag and start to head downstairs.

To: Carly Patterson

Text: LOL no way, I was the goody good of our gym remember? Haha I'm going now, if it's not too late I'll text ya 2nt

Slipping my phone into my pocket, I enter my living room. "Hey Kim!" I greet. "Sorry I took so long."

She smiles. "It was hardly long. You ready to go?"

I nod. "Bye Mom, bye Dad!"

"Have fun!"

"Be good!"

I laugh in embarrassment as we leave the house. "God, parents are so embarrassing."

She chuckles. "It's okay, all of them are. Besides yours are way better than mine. Believe me. When I first brought Jared home, they literally brought out the baby book! I didn't know parents did that in real life!"

I laugh, as we make our way to the beach. I didn't text her about kissing Paul and although I kind of want to talk to her about it, I don't know how to bring it up. But I have a feeling Paul told Jared because before we arrive at the beach, she pries, "So how was the beach with Paul?"

"I have a feeling you already know," I reply grinning.

"Why would you say that?" she says innocently.

I grin back. "Because I never told you we went to the beach, and we never mentioned it when we left."

She giggles. "You caught me but oh my god, I can't believe you kissed him! I'm so happy for you." She hugs me impulsively. When I blush, she asks anxiously, "Wait! It was a good thing right?"

I smile softly. "Yeah. It was."

She claps excitedly and I can't help but giggle at the sight. "Yay."

"Don't get your hopes up. It's not like we're dating or anything."

"Yet." She smiles knowingly.

I return the smile. "Yet."

Everyone is already around the bonfire when we arrive. Kim takes a seat in front of Jared so I take the empty seat beside Paul on the log. "Hey," he says, smiling.

"Hey." I smile back widely.

"I'm glad you came." He gulps down the last of his hot dog. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"Uh, sure." We go over to the table and I grab a pop and a hamburger. When we sit back down at the bonfire, all the people are chatting about movies and shows.

"Star Trek is way better than Star Wars, clearly," Collin points out as if it's a fact, not an opinion.

"No way," Brady exclaims. "Star Wars is so way better!"

"And this," Paul states, "is why you two dorks don't have girlfriends."

"No we don't have girlfriends because we haven't im – " Brady starts to say but is cut off by Seth placing a hand over his mouth. I notice everyone around the fire glaring at Collin.

I shoot a questioning glance up at Paul, he just smiles at me. "Don't mind Brady and Collin, they don't really have a brain."

I roll my eyes, swatting at him. "That's mean."

He winks at me. "It's true though."

We all quiet down as one of the tribe elders, Billy, starts to tell the legends. At first I just listen to be polite, but as he goes on I don't have to try. I find them extremely interesting. About halfway through the legends, I find the temperature start to chill, and shiver in my thin summer jacket. It's a lot colder here than in Texas.

Seconds after I shiver, Paul's arm finds it's way around my shoulders. He pulls me in close; instantly I warm up. His body is so warm it's ridiculous, but it feels wonderful. "Are you cold?" he whispers in concern.

I smile thoughtfully. "Not now," I whisper back.

He grins, holding me tight. We turn our focus back to Billy.

When he announces he's finished, everyone goes back to happily chatting. I have to admit though, I am kind of sad. The legends are so interesting. "Did you like the legends?" Paul asks anxiously.

I look up at him, still cuddled into his side to keep warm, and answer, "Yeah, they're really cool."

He smiles, relaxing slightly. "I'm glad you like them."

I look around to see Kim sleeping in Jared's arms. I snort a little. Clearly she doesn't find the legends that interesting. Since Kim is sleeping, Emily is the only other girl here besides Leah – who has made it clear she doesn't like me. Emily's cleaning up the trash that the boys left around so I decide to go help her. Getting her to like me seems like a good idea.

"Where are you going?" Paul asks as I get up.

"To help Emily. Am I not allowed?" I inquire, smirking.

He smirks back. "I suppose I'll let you this time."

I roll my eyes and go over to Emily. Instantly I wish I would have stayed with Paul; it's so cold over here! "You need any help?"

She smiles warmly at me. "Sure." I start picking up some garbage and half eaten food with her. "I guess Kim won't be much help."

I chuckle. "I guess not." The boys and laughing but I can't hear what they're talking about so I just ignore it. "I'm assuming the guys aren't much help?"

She scoffs, although it isn't in a mean way. "Ha, no. They may help if you ask but they're usually more in the way than anything."

"I can see that."

"Hey! We can hear you!" one of the boys complains.

We roll our eyes at each other, smiling. "Well by sitting there you aren't proving us wrong," she calls back. Even though it is kind of pointless since we're pretty much done. In a few minutes, we finish and head back over to the bonfire.

I snuggle back into Paul's side and although he seems pleased at it, he also is a bit shock. I grin innocently at him. "What? You're really warm."

He grins that cocky grin of his at me. "It's because I'm so hot."

"Wow, you are so not conceited at all," I laugh.

"So," he drags out the word as he glances out into the distance. Avoiding eye contact. "Do you want to go for a walk? I kind of, uh, want to talk about something."

All the other conversations amongst the group, even the elders', cease. Is my answer that big of a deal? I am curious to see what he wants to talk about though, so I answer, "Sure."

He stands up, then helps me up. As we walk towards the shore and away from the group, Paul becomes more and more nervous. He's biting his lips and his hands are slightly shaking – not like that day in the woods, it seems different.

"Hey," I smile encouragingly at him and wrap my small hand around his large one, "whatever you want to say can't be that bad."


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey guys :) Just a warning this is Paul's POV so there will be a bit more swearing than in Everlie's POVs :P You were warned lol**

**Chapter 7**

Paul's POV

"Hey," she smiles encouragingly at me and wraps her small hand around my large one, "whatever you want to say can't be that bad."

I smile bleakly at her. She clearly has no idea. "I guess that will depend on your definition of bad."

When we're at the same rocks I'd seen her sitting at the other day, I sit down and pat the space beside me. We're extremely far away from where the bonfire is and I can tell it's slightly worrying her. But I don't want the pack to hear everything that's about to be said. They'll find out soon enough anyway... Plus, here is far enough that they most likely can't hear.

"What do you mean?" she questions, taking a seat nervously.

I sigh, leaning my elbows on my knees and resting my head in my hands. "Everlie. Do you know how I feel about you?"

Her heartbeat increases, fluttering away in her chest and I bite back a smile.

"Do _you _know how you feel about me?" she returns, unsure of what to say. She's so adorable when she's... well when she's anything but especially when she doesn't know if she's saying the right thing. I try to focus.

"Yes. I like you. I like you so much." _Actually I love you but since you're already going to be screaming and running away in a minute, I won't scare you anymore than necessary._

"I like you a lot,too," she whispers shyly.

"But," I continue, forcing back my smile from her words, "I don't want to ask you out, or to be my girlfriend," a frown forms on her face so I blurt the rest of my words out quickly, "until you know something about me that's really important."

She bites her lip, looking more scared than she has all night. I want to comfort her but I don't know how and that's pissing me off. I can't even comfort my own imprint. I'm about to continue, when she asks, "Do you have a kid?"

At first I think she's joking, she tends to lighten the mood when I get tense, it's awesome, but as I look into her eyes I see she's serious. "No," I say incredulously. A kid? Oh fuck. Suddenly I know why she thinks that and I start to shake. Why did I have to have fucked so many girls before I met her? My shaking increases as I realize she's always going to have those doubts about me...

"Paul," she says quietly, "I'm sorry, I just, uh, thought... It kind of made sense. I'm sorry."

Her little face looks so sad and broken that I feel a physical pain in my chest and my shaking subsides. "No, don't be, please," I whisper hoarsely. "I deserved that. But it isn't true. This... thing is something completely different."

She nods, awaiting my answer.

I've seen how the other girls had reacted to their imprints telling them before... and it never ends well. At all. Even Kim and Emily had been extremely angry and threw things. Just to my luck the only thing that's around for her to throw is rocks. Great...

I sigh. "Okay, well, you know the uh, legends?"

"You mean the ones I just heard like twenty minutes ago?" she teases in her attempt to lighten the mood. I laugh, even though she's clearly scared to death she still tries to cut the tension.

"Yeah, those ones. Well, Everlie," I look her in the eyes and with all the honesty I can muster I say, "they're _all_ true."

Her eyes pop out of her head and her mouth is slightly agape. I hold my breath, waiting for her to react. Say something. Anything. But she doesn't; she just stares.

"Everlie? Are you okay?" I begin to panic. Maybe going this far away from the pack is a bad idea. What if she goes into shock and they can't hear me calling for them? What if she gets seriously hurt? Oh my god, what if I phase and accidentally hurt her?

But she smiles slightly in disbelief, interrupting my internal ramblings, and whispers, "You just told me you could turn into a giant wolf and you're asking me if I'm okay? Paul! Are you insane?"

She doesn't believe me. My imprint doesn't believe me. It hurts. A lot. But I guess I do understand her not listening. It is quite unreal. "Everlie, please, I know it sounds crazy but I'm not lying."

We stare at each other for a long moment. She keeps giving me looks as if she's waiting for me to jump up and say "just kidding". It kills me that I can't do that. "This is... ridiculous. This is... just stupid. You can't be a wolf! Normal people can't turn into wolves!" She's almost hyperventilating as she pleads me with her eyes to tell her she's right and I'm wrong.

I feel like I'm about to cry. Fuck, what imprinting does to you is insane. "I know it seems unreal, and crazy, and ridiculous, and any other words you can think of. But it's true. We're not normal. Me, Sam, Jared, all of us, we're werewolves. We protect the reservation from vampires, the cold ones."

"You're not kidding," she says slowly. It's not a question; she just states it.

I shake my head. "I'm so sorry. I understand if you never want to speak to me again, but please understand, I will never hurt you." The promise is more to myself than her. But I want so badly to keep it.

"Does Kim know?"

I nod. "She never told me," Everlie whispers, sounding hurt. I want to hug her comfortingly but I know that will just make it worse.

"She's not allowed. We're not allowed to tell anyone about it." Instantly I regret saying those stupid words. I'm such an idiot. She hasn't even fully acknowledged the wolf thing and I hint at the imprint. God!

"How come you told me then? Is that why we walked all the way over here? 'Cause you're not allowed to tell me?"

I shake my head. She jumps to conclusions just as much as I do. "No. We came all the way over hear because us... wolves have extremely good hearing. This is the only way they wouldn't hear everything. But _I _am allowed to tell you, because you, Everlie Callahan, are my... imprint."

She wracks her brain, skimming through the legends until she gets to the part about imprinting. She's quite easy to read. Then, what I assume is her realizing what it means, her mouth forms a slight "o" shape. A little gasp escapes her mouth. "I-is that mean the same as it did in the story?"

I nod, holding my breath once again.

"So, we're...?"

"Soul mates," I supply for her, attempting and failing to hide my smile.

"Soul mates," she repeats, one side of her mouth rising into somewhat of a smile. "So that's why..." she trails off, too embarrassed to continue. I take that as a good sign. "That explains a lot."

I grin.

"How come Kim knows?"

"She's Jared's imprint."

She nods. "Did she know you imprinted on me?"

"Yes."

That half smile returns. "That explains a lot more," she laughs. Well it is almost a laugh. "So you're really hot because of the wolf thing?"

"Well, actually," I say cockily, "it's more of a genetics thing." She glares at me and instantly I shut up. Not the time for jokes. "Yeah. That's why we don't need to wear a lot of clothes."

"And... vampires are real?" she clarifies nervously.

I stifle a growl. "I'll never let one near you."

Taking that as a yes, she continues, "When you shake, is that a wolf thing?"

I frown. It's more of a Paul thing; although other wolves do it, I lose my temper quite a bit more easily. I wish I didn't have to tell her this, it's kind of embarrassing. But it is to protect her. "We shake when we're about to phase – turn into a wolf – and when we get really mad, we phase. So I shake when I'm really mad or upset. If I ever do shake a lot around you, please,_ please_ just move away from me."

She bites her lip, pondering. "But you've never phased before when I saw you shake."

I smile down at her. "You calm me down."

She blushes, staring at her hands. "A-are Emily's – " 

"Yes," I answer, not wanting her to finish.

"D-did Sam..?"

I nod. "He was really mad one day, not at her, and when he phased, she was standing too close."

"That's horrible," she whispers.

"That's why I want you to leave if I ever get mad." I know I'm pushing it since I don't even know if she's going to even speak to me again once we're done this conversation. God, I hope she does.

She remains quiet for a while, just staring at the ground. "This is... still insane."

I bite my lip, nervously. "I know."

She sighs, looking up at the sky. "But for some stupid reason, I do believe you."

I can't control the grin that breaks across my face. "Really?"

Chuckling, she nods. "Yes."

"You can't tell anyone. Not your parents, or anybody else," I inform her.

"They'd just send me to an insane asylum anyway," she jokes."But, don't worry, I won't."

"You're not scared of me? Or going to throw something at me?" I murmur in surprise.

She smacks me lightly, grinning. "Paul! Why would I hit you? God, I already feel bad enough about how nervous you were to tell me in the first place. And as for scared, I'm already scared of everything as it is so it's not a big deal."

I stare at her in amazement, kind of like after she showed me her gymnastics thing. She's truly amazing and selfless. Who else would react like this after what I just told her? "I don't deserve you," I tell her truthfully.

She smiles, meeting my loving gaze. "You're right, you deserve someone better." Before I can tell her just how wrong she is, she leans up towards me. I lean in and meet her half way in a passionate kiss. This one's a lot different from the one last night. She's more bold, like she's not afraid I'll think badly of her. Not that I ever would or could think that. Her hands make their around my neck as our lips crash against each other.

I pick her up gently, placing her on my lap. Kissing her deeply, I place my hands on the side of her hips. It takes every bit of restraint in me to not make her hips grind against me. She's not like that, and I'm not going to make her be.

But, hell, with kisses like this, she doesn't need to be.

Everlie pulls back, breathing heavily. She smiles, but can't seem to form words as she catches her breath. I kiss her lightly on the forehead. "You're amazing."

When she catches her breath, she giggles. "If you're talking about the kiss, then I know your lying."

I pout. "Are you saying you didn't find it amazing?" I tease.

"For me it was," she declares, "but I'm sure you've had much better."

And here it starts, my past fucking things up. I shake my head. "No. I can honestly say I've never, not in my life, felt as much as I do when I kiss you." She breaks eye contact and blushes at the ground but I continue. "We're perfect for each other Ev, nothing I've ever done with any girl before compares to this."

She smiles thoughtfully up at me. "That's good to know." She seems pretty pleased at my nickname too; which is always a bonus. "Can I see?" she asks hopefully.

"See what?" I pretend not to know what she means.

She purses her lips and glares playfully at me. "Can I see you as a wolf?"

"Um..." I don't know if I should. I don't really think it's a problem, as long as I go into the forest and away from her. But what is it scares her? But she's looking up at me with this pleading expression that I just can't say no to. "Okay, one second. I have to go to the forest to phase."

She nods and watches as I run into the forest. I shed my clothes and phase quickly. I emerge from the forest slowly, not wanting to frighten her. The same expression as the one she had on when I told her the legends were true, overtakes her face. Then, as if something hits her, she places her hands on her hips and does her best to look mad. It's so fucking adorable.

"So you were the wolf that was in my back yard?"

I nod, not sure where she's going with this. But I honestly don't care, she's not scared, she's even enjoying herself.

She pouts. "You made me look stupid in front of my parents. I don't know if I can ever talk to you again."

I bark out a laugh. She's not mad when I tell her I'm a werewolf, she's not mad when I tell her she's my soul mate, but God forbid I run away when she goes to show her parents there's a wolf in her backyard. Oh, she's going to be the death of me.

I turn around and run back into the forest to phase back.

"Wait!" I hear her call. "I was just kidding!"

After dressing, I come back to her chuckling. "I know that." I wrap my arms around her and feel her relax into my embrace. "But I can't talk to you when I'm in wolf form."

"But you were so cute," she coos, giggling as I nuzzle her neck.

"From what I heard you think I'm pretty cute in human form. Even heard that you thought I'm more attractive than Jared."

She gasps, her face turning beat red. "Kim told you that!" she exclaims.

"No, silly, she told Jared and I saw him thinking about it."

"Huh?"

Oh, crap, she didn't know about that part. "We can, uh, read each others' thoughts when we're phased."

"So everything you think about, they know?"

I nod.

"That sucks." This thought seems to worry her, which I can't blame. It's pretty hard not to think about her when I 'm away from her so... they find out a lot.

"Yeah, but you get used to it. Do you wanna head back to the bonfire? It's eleven so I'll probably have to take you back soon."

She nods.

"Are you sure you're okay with all of this?" I ask anxiously.

She nods, again. "Should I not be?"

I fight back a chuckle. "Well, everyone else's imprints really, freaked when they found out. I mean, Kim threw a hairdryer at Jared and even Emily threw stuff at Sam when she found out... I guess I just prepared myself for the worst." _Like you leaving me. _

"Well, I guess that's why you asked if I was going to throw things at you." She pauses before continuing, "But I've never exactly had a social life or known what society is really like, so I guess I don't have any standards of what things should be like. I'm not saying you being a werewolf isn't freaking weird, believe me it is. But I don't know," she smiles up at me and it literally takes my breath away, "everything that happens, even normal things, are weird to me 'cause I've never had to really deal with them before. So if I have to be open to them, I might as well be open to this."

"You're amazing," I announce as we start heading back to the bonfire. The guys were probably all freaking out by now, wondering what's going on. Especially Kim and Emily.

But hey, I guess having an ex-gymnast as an imprint works out pretty well. In more than just this way.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Do you own _any _junk food at all?" Kim complains as she searches through my kitchen cabinets. It's Wednesday, two days after the bonfire and we're doing our homework. She isn't too impressed when she realizes the lack of junk food in my house. "If not, we should have studied at my house."

I chuckle, reading over my History notes. Honestly, I don't see the use of me knowing all the countries in Europe. "There should be some chocolate bars in the cupboard furthest to the left," I tell her, popping another grape into my mouth.

She grabs a KitKat bar and plops down on the chair beside me. "I can't believe you don't eat chocolate. You are _so _weird!"

I roll my eyes. "Gee thanks. 'Cause I haven't heard _that _enough this weeks." All the members of the pack have been laughing at me all week because I didn't freak out when Paul told me about their secret. Excuse me for being nice about it.

Kim giggles. "Oh, come on. It is a little strange. You should have seen the guys. They were all freaking out because Paul took you far enough away so they couldn't hear. If I wasn't worried about how you'd react, it would've been really funny."

"So what did they expect to happen?" I ask curiously.

"Um..." She seems unsure of whether or not to continue. "Paul has a really... bad temper so they weren't sure how he would react if you got really mad. And we didn't want what happened to Emily..."

I nod. "Yeah, he told me about that." Then I smirk. "So his temper's that bad?"

She nods, laughing hysterically. "Oh yeah. He's a lot calmer around you though. It's refreshing. You should have seen him one time..." She went on about a few times Paul had freaked out and lost his temper. Some of the stories were extremely funny, others were slightly scary.

We continue with our homework and she gives me a better explanation about what really went on when the boys were on patrol. Yeah, Paul's version had definitely been the PG version. "That jerk totally lied."

"He just didn't want to scare you even more," she assures me.

Before I can reply, my cell phone rings. I don't recognize the number but decide to answer it anyway. "Hello?"

"_Hello, this is Forks Hospital calling. Is this Miss Callahan?"_

By the look on Kim's face and the way she keeps mouthing "who is it?", I can tell she can't hear the voice through the phone. I sigh in relief. I cover the mouth piece and whisper, "A friend from Texas; I'll be right back."

I walk into the living room and then answer, "Yes, this is her." _Please don't be canceling!_

"_Oh, good!" _the receptionist says cheerfully. "_I'm just calling to confirm that you are still coming to __your scheduled appointment with Dr. Cullen tomorrow at 4?"_

"Yes, definitely," I respond immediately. "I'll be there."

_"All right, that' s great. We'll see you tomorrow."_

"Okay, thanks so much! Bye." Clicking the end call button, I return to the kitchen. "Sorry about that."

"No problem." She's clearly oblivious. I feel bad about lying to her but from what I've learned in the past few days, if Paul found out about this appointment then there's no way he would ever let me go. He hates the Cullens; however, Dr. Cullen is one of the best doctors in this area and I have to know for sure that I can never do gymnastics again.

Another reason I can't tell Kim. My parents can not find out. Their whole theory behind bringing me here is for me to forget about gymnastics. But that isn't going to happen. No matter how much I love it here – which I'm finding I do – I'm always going to miss gymnastics. I already know I can't do it at a competitive level but the _doctor _himself had never told me I couldn't do recreational. My parents had. Maybe they just said that because they thought it would be what's best.

And finally tomorrow, I will find out. As long as I can get out of school early, get there, and get home without anyone noticing. Yeah, I really wish I had my license and a car.

Once we finish our homework, we decide to do some baking. Paul and Jared are on patrol until late, so it's not like either one of us have any other plans. After flipping through a million cookbooks, we just settle on simple chocolate chip cookies.

The first batch turns out really well. The second batch... well we forgot about it and let's just say they were completely burnt by the time we remembered. Oh well, at least some of them are good.

"Wow," Kim exclaims in mock amazement, "you're eating junk food! I should take a picture."

I fake a pose as she mimics taking a picture with her hands. Laughing, I finish off my cookie. "You're ridiculous."

"So are you. That's why we're friends." She glances up at the clock. "Anyway, I better get going. It's late. And Jared's coming over tonight after patrol." She winks at me.

I roll my eyes. "All right, well have fun then. See you tomorrow."

Once she leaves, I clean up the kitchen. Just as I'm about to go up to my room, do some stretches and go to bed, I see a gray wolf walking about in my backyard. I roll my eyes. "Are you done patrol?" I ask, knowing he can hear me.

He nods his head and I chuckle. "Then come in, my parents aren't home." He grins and disappears in the woods. Walking over to the backdoor, I unlock it. There's something we didn't talk about on Monday and even though I chickened out yesterday, we are going to talk about it tonight.

"Hello gorgeous," he greets, kissing me lightly.

I blush, smiling. "Hello yourself. So may I ask what you're doing wandering around my backyard?"

He smirks. "Well, I wanted to see if your parents were home or not so I could come in and do this." He wraps around my waist, pulling me up to him. He presses his lips against mine and I respond instantly. Although I honestly don't know what I'm doing, he seems to like it.

When we break away, I sigh. He frowns once he realizes that it's not just from us stopping our kiss. "What's wrong, Ev?"

"Nothing really. We just need to talk?" It comes out as more of a question.

He nods, holding his breath. By his expression, I know he's expecting the worst. I smile. "Don't look so worried. I just want to ask you a question."

He exhales, still looking anxious. "What is it?"

"What are we?" I break eye contact, suddenly nervous to hear his answer. We are soul mates, his answer can't be that bad. Right?

He leans in, pulling my face up to meet his gaze. "What do you want us to be?"

My face flushes red and I gulp. "I asked you first."

He sighs, looking a little frustrated. "I lo – really like you Everlie. And I would love more than anything for you to be my girlfriend. But if you don't want to, I would understand."

I smile, giggling. Was he just about to say love? "Well I would really like that."

He grins. "So it's official?"

I nod. "I guess that wasn't so difficult."

He kisses me softly. "Nothing has to be difficult between us," he whispers.

o.o

Today happens to be easier than I thought it was going to be. I didn't go for my run this morning since I'm most likely going to get a physical and I want it to go well. Once I get to school, I just act like everything's normal. My only problem would have been that I have to leave before my last period, and Paul happens to be in that class.

Everything works out okay, though, because I'm in a taxi on my way to the Hospital now. Then my phone buzzes in my pocket.

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: Where are you?

I smirk, of course he worries. Sighing, I know I have to lie or he'll come and stop me from going. Plus, I don't have time to explain it all out to him and still be there on time. Quickly, I text him back, feeling extremely guilty.

To: Paul Walker

Text: I'm talking 2 the teacher about an assignment thing. I'll prob miss class.

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: Do u want me to tell our teacher?

Aw, he's so sweet sometimes. Probably just to make me feel even worse... I groan. The taxi driver shoots me a weird look but I just ignore him.

To: Paul Walker

Text: No, I'll talk to him later. And tell Kim not to wait up for me, I'll already be gone!

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: Ok :( I miss you. Wanna come over to Em's afterward?

To: Paul Walker

Text: Miss you too :) of course! I'll be thr when I can. Buhbye!

When we arrive at the hospital, I pay the driver and go inside. It's not that big; in fact it's tiny. The registration place isn't that hard to find. Unlike all the other hospitals and doctor's offices I've been to, it doesn't take five hours before they admit me. It also doesn't take another five hours for Dr. Cullen to show up. Which I'm thankful for.

"Hello, Miss Callahan, I'm Dr. Cullen, it's a pleasure to meet you," Dr. Cullen greets, as he enters the room.

"Everlie, please. And you too." I smile nervously at him and extend my hand. Holy God, is he ever beautiful. I know it's just because he's a vampire, but wow, I did not expect this! However, when he shakes my hand, I try my best not to cringe. Maybe it's because I've been used to Paul's extremely hot touch, but his hand is so cold. I would ask Paul if that is a vampire thing... if I had a death wish.

"All right, I took the liberty of getting in contact with your previous doctor to get your medical records," he informs me. "Before you leave here today, I will get an x-ray of your spine and do a few other small tests, if you're open to them, but right now, I just want to clarify what you want me to do, and do a routine physical."

I nod.

"So what do you want me to find out for you?" Even if he is a vampire, he's just so kind and nice that I have a hard time even trying to feel the hate Paul has for these guys.

"Well, I know because of my disks I can't do competitive gymnastics. And I understand that." Or I pretend to. "But I was never told that I couldn't do it like once a week or so, for like recreation. So I want to, you know, see if that's a possibility or if that will still cause future problems."

He nods, understandingly. "Can you tell me what you do for physical activities? When I get the results back from your x-ray, it will be helpful to see if any of that is making your condition worse."

I give him a list of my daily physical activities: morning run, gym class, nightly stretches. "And, a few days ago, I was hanging out with my um, friend, and I did some tumbling and I didn't get any back pains – like I was getting before I had to quit. So... yeah."

He nods. "Well, if that did affect your spine, it would still be inflamed so we'll check that out after your x-ray. Do you have any other questions or concerns?"

Shaking my head, he gestures for us to go to the x-ray room. After the x-ray, he does several more tests and then the normal physical. As we wait for the results, he explains my condition in specifics, some things that may help it. Which could give me a better chance of being able to do gymnastics weekly. Hell, even bi-weekly would be awesome.

"So you're from La Push?" he asks, still waiting for the results.

I nod. Awkward.

He smiles. "I don't get many people from down there here. As I'm sure you know."

I laugh, knowing he knows I know about the werewolves. At first I wonder how he knows, but then I figure, since vampires have heightened senses, he could probably smell Paul on me. "Yeah, I'm probably going to get hell for being here."

Dr. Cullen chuckles. Then, he sits down beside me with the results that a nurse just brought to him in his hand. "Compared to your last x-ray when this was first discovered, the inflammation is nearly the same. If there's any difference, the disks are a tad bit smaller. But this isn't something that will go down. It will get worse with more, well in your case gymnastics, but it also won't go down with not doing it. Which is where your problem lies."

I agree. If the disks went down with ice and rest, I wouldn't be in La Push right now, I'd still be competing.

"I'm going to do some more research and go over your test results to see if doing that will be logical. We'll book another appointment for about a month's time from now. During that time, I want you to do once a week something simple from gymnastics. Maybe do a couple tumbling lines, or draw a line in the grass or sand and do a few beam routines."

Am I dreaming or did he really just say that? A grin breaks out onto my face and I can't stop.

He holds up his hands, chuckling slightly. "Now, don't get too excited Everlie. If you experience any pain or discomfort from doing this, I want you to stop immediately and come see me. You don't have to make an appointment, just go to the registration office. But, if you do feel fine, do it once a week and when our appointment comes, we'll see if it affects you."

"And if it doesn't?" I demand excitedly.

"Well, we'll see when the time comes." Seeing the disappointment in my face as he says that, he sighs and tells me, "Most likely, I'll have you do a bit more than what you'll do this month, and if everything goes well from there – including my research on this – then I'd recommend trialling a month of what you can do in _one _weekly gymnastic lesson, or whatever it may be called, and then come back here and we could see how it affected you."

"That sounds good." I smile gratefully at him. "Thanks you so much."

He smiles warmly at me. "No problem. I hope I can help."

We run through the paperwork, and when it comes time for the payment, he assumes I want to bill sent to my house. I quickly object, panicking. "Actually, is there anyway I can pay here, like right now? So my parents don't find out I came. See, they'd be really mad if they new I was here 'cause they want me forget gymnastics. So if there's anyway you know, they don't have to hear about this, that would be really awesome."

He chuckles, most likely at my babbling, but nods nonetheless. "Of course, if that's what you want. How would you like to pay?"

"Debit," I answer automatically. Although professional gymnasts don't get paid technically, besides the prize money from major competitions, if you are really good, you get endorsement deals for gymnastic clothes, equipment, and even things like CoverGirl. It gave you a lot of money, and thankfully, due to them, I had enough money in my bank account for a lot. I don't really spend it even though I can, but it's great for emergencies. Like this, and the cab rides.

"Thank you so much, Dr. Cullen." He smiles before leaving the room. Okay, even if he is supposed to be my enemy, he is definitely my favourite person at the moment. Well, except for Paul. You won't hear me say _that _out loud.

After calling a cab, I pull out my phone.

To: Paul Walker

Text: I'll be to Emily's soon, r u thr?

Clearly he's not doing anything important because he replies instantly.

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: Yup, im here :) see ya soon ;)

I chuckle and look out the cab's window. The whole werewolf thing still is extremely, well, mind blowing to me but I also kind of love it. I mean, Paul can be annoying, tempered and crazy but there's just something about the way he's annoying, tempered and crazy that makes me love him. I mean love the way he is. Let's just say I am glad he's my soul mate.

I pay the driver, who happens to be the same one as before, and head to Emily's doorstep. I knock, which she answers cheerfully, "You don't have to knock, Everlie. Come on in!"

I laugh, and enter the kitchen. There's no chairs left over so I sit on Paul's lap, blushing madly. He kisses me on the cheek and then freezes. I look up at him, confused. His body starts to shake as he snarls out, "Why the fuck do you reek of leach?"

Oh crap.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Paul calm down!" Sam yells in a demanding voice.

Logically, I know I should get off his lap and get the hell away from him. But I don't; I'm too confused to move. Part of me is screaming to comfort him and calm him down and the other part is yelling at me to run like hell.

"What the hell happened? Why were you near a leach?" Paul demands, gripping my forearms harshly.

My eyes bulge. I want to tell him to stop. I want to tell him he's hurting me. I want to yell at him. But I don't. I just stare at him, unsure of what to do.

Everyone looks just as scared and unsure of what to do as I am. And that doesn't help. "Paul, calm down," Jake says. "It's just Carlisle."

"Carlisle?" he whispers angrily. "What the fuck were you doing near a _Cullen_?"

I glare at him, pulling out of his grasp. Something about bringing the doctor who pretty much just made my day into this really pisses me off. "What the fuck do you think I was doing? He's a _doctor_ Paul. Why else would I be near him?"

Okay, maybe yelling at an already angered, volatile, wolf isn't that great of an idea. But I'm angry, and hurt. He's still shaking, still pissed, but I can tell he's starting to realize what he did. And feel bad about it. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to see _him_?"

"Because you wouldn't have let me go," I yell. Despite everyone's warnings for me to shut up, I keep going, "And then you would've told my parents! They would've freaked out and it would've ruined everything!"

His shaking doesn't subside, not that I'm surprised. "You lied to me."

"Yeah! And I just explained why! I'm sorry but you don't fucking understand anyway so telling you would've just made it worse!"

His shaking ceases. I can tell he's thoroughly confused, and hurt. Good for fucking him because if he's not mad, I am. "I... don't... get what I don't understand."

"Of course you don't!" I cry, tears literally streaming down my face. "No one does! And that's why I went. I needed to know instead of just hearing everyone tell me it's stupid, or over, or gone! I wish people would stop acting like they fucking get it when they don't, and just leave me alone!"

I run out of Emily's house, bawling. I keep running until I find myself at First Beach. It seems like I always end up here, for everything. I collapse into the sand, glancing at the small bruises forming on my biceps. Even if Paul did deserve that, I just don't think he does. I mean, I did lie to him and willfully go see a vampire without telling him after all.

Plus he had warned me about what to do when he gets mad, and I didn't listen. Then I yelled at him for things that didn't even really apply to him. Yeah, he doesn't understand, but he also doesn't give me a hard time. In fact he'd sympathized with me and hadn't told me what I should do. He'd just been there for me. That's all I've wanted.

To: Carly Patterson

Text: Oh gosh Car, I screwed up badly and I don't know what to do :'(

"You didn't screw up at all, Evie, I did. I'm so so sorry. What I just did was unacceptable," Paul whispers his voice sounding tortured. He kneels down in front of me, which is when he sees the bruises on my arms. "Oh my God," he cries, "I'm so sorry. I can't believe I did that to you." He starts shaking again.

"_He was really mad one day, not at her, and when he phased, she was standing too close."_

"Paul," I say in the strongest voice I can muster, "if you don't calm down, it's going to be a lot worse."

That works and he sighs. "Fuck, I just ruin everything."

I smile lightly. "No, your temper just does. It's not all your fault."

He shakes his head at me. "You're unbelievable," he mumbles, "You should be making me feel like the worst person in the world right now. Not trying to cheer me up."

"I don't want to make you feel bad Paul." I close my eyes and sigh. "And I should be saying sorry. You at least had a reason to be mad at me. A stupid reason, but nonetheless still a reason. I yelled at you things that I'm not even mad at _you _for. Things that you haven't even done. And that's not fair."

"I hurt you. You have every right to yell at me."

"How about we just call it even and move on?" I suggest. It may be stupid for me to forgive him so easily but I don't care. I just want him to be happy and I want to be near him.

He bites his lip. "I'm going to find a way to make this up to you, Everlie." He leans down and kisses my forehead softly. "So why did you go to the doctor?"

I switch my gaze to the ocean, gazing absentmindedly. "Promise you won't tell my parents?"

He nods. "I promise."

I tell him my reason and what happened at my appointment. "I'm sorry I don't understand why you need this," I murmurs sincerely.

"I don't expect you to. I _can't_ expect you to. Paul, you've never been through what I'm going through, and I don't want you to have to. It just sucks."

"I want to understand, though."

I smile softly. "I appreciate that but – "

"Please tell me."

I sigh. "Paul, what's the one thing you love more than anything in this world?"

"You," he replies simply.

I'm about to roll my eyes but as I meet his gaze, I realize he's dead serious. "Okay, well just imagine you spent every waking hour of your life focusing on me, doing everything you can to make me like you, to be... good at me liking you, I guess. And then, after all your hours and hours of dedication, you had to leave. And never be with me again. Only able to see me from a distance. How would you feel?"

Immediately, he envelops his arms around me. Then I realize I'm crying again. "Shhh, baby, it's okay," Paul soothes.

"Do you get it a little now?"

His body rocks slightly which I can tell is him nodding my head. "I'm sorry you have to go through that. But please when you go back for your appointment, let me come with you. I'll behave, I just need to know you're safe."

I nod, then my phone vibrates in my pocket. Paul smirks down at me. "I could make so many jokes right here."

I shove him playfully. "Well don't." 

New Message

From: Carly Patterson

Text: Evie? What's going on? Are you okay? Did something happen at the hospital?

"She understands?" Paul guesses.

I nod. "More than anyone. She has the same back problem so she's gone through this before. She's a singer now. But she struggled a bit at first too. She's my best friend," I whisper slightly teary-eyed.

He kisses my cheek as I text Carly back.

To: Carly Patterson

Text: Sry Car, I guess I just over reacted. Shocker there huh? ;) Things went really well at the hospital, I'll text you the deets later :)

We sit in silence for a while as I cuddle further into Paul. Maybe I am too forgiving but I know he feels terrible and I'm not going to make him feel worse.

"Do you want to hear something funny?" Paul asks, his breath tickling my neck.

I giggle. "I think we've established that we don't have the same sense of humor. So I'm not sure..." I grin as he pouts. "But go ahead. Don't get mad if I'm offended."

"First off, I would be sad if you were offended, not mad. Anyway, when you said that your parents would've freaked out, I kinda thought you went to the doctors because you thought you were pregnant. Which clearly didn't help in calming me down..."

I gape at him. "_That's _why you thought I went to the doctors?"

He smiles sheepishly. "Are you mad?"

I bite my lip, the only thing stopping me from laughing hysterically. "Paul! How could I be pregnant? I'm a virgin." Then my hand flings to my mouth. Did I really just say that? Oh my god... With a face as red as a tomato, I look up to him bashfully. I've never seen him smile so largely or look so happy. Is he glad I'm a virgin? How is inexperience ever a good thing?

"Hey," he whispers softly, seeing my expression. "Don't be embarrassed Everlie." He kisses me softly. "Don't ever be embarrassed." Another kiss.

"But... you've already and..."

Kiss. "You don't have to do anything you're not ready for." Kiss. "We'll wait." This time I kiss him back, as a thank you. It heats up quickly and before I know it I'm laying in the sand with Paul perched over top of me making out with him with all I have.

I pull back and smirk at him. "I think we should stop."

He nods and rolls off of me. "Sorry, I got kinda carried away. You do that to me."

"I don't mind," I tease, pecking him on the lips. "Now... I think I've thought of a way for you to make it up to me."

He raises an eyebrow. "Anything you want."

I beam at him. "Back massage."

He groans. "The things I do for you... Turn around."

I giggle and do as I'm told. He starts at my shoulders, massaging in small circles. I bite back a moan. "You're really good at this." He leans in and kisses my cheek.

"I know."

"Don't stop!" I complain. He chuckles, but does as he's told. Once he reaches the bottom of my back, I feel him pause.

"Does that hurt?" he wonders.

I shake my head. "Nope. It feels weird though, doesn't it?" I ask, referring to the disks. Although it isn't visibly noticeable, you can feel the inflammation of them when you press into my back. He presses more now, exploring my back.

I laugh when I see the focused look on his face. "Oh my god Paul. It's doesn't feel that cool. If anything it's gross."

He kisses my forehead and wraps his arms around me. "It's on you, of course it's not gross. It's amazing."

"You're a corn ball," I laugh. It's funny how within an hour, things can go from fatal to amazing.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Despite being beyond embarrassed about the way I left Emily's house yesterday, Paul persuades me to go back there after school today. He tells me that they won't tease me about it. I believe him, but I'm still embarrassed to go back. However, I know I can't stay away from them forever, especially if I'm with Paul. Plus Jared, as well as Jake, Embry and Quil have been nice to me and haven't mentioned it all day. So I guess it's better to get it over with sooner or later.

Right now, I'm in gym class and since it's an abnormally warm day, we're outside in the lame excuse for a soccer field behind our school. He doesn't let us have a slack day or even let us play some active game. Instead we're doing races. I don't have a problem with it but I'm guessing from the complaining of all the other girls, it's a bad thing.

I sit down on the grass beside Paul who's sitting next to Jared. I smile up at both of them. "Is running supposed to be a bad thing or something?"

Paul chuckles and pulls me into his side. "Some girls don't have an obsession with being in shape like you do."

I stick my tongue out at him. "Screw you."

Him and Jared laugh. I roll my eyes, waiting for the teacher to call us. When he finally does, he tells us that we'll do a girls tournament, then once that's finished we'll do one for the boys. After that the top four girls and top four boys will be mixed into a tournament and the winner gets a free day whichever day they wish.

It sounds like a pretty good deal; only problem is that with two werewolves in my class, it's not even possible for me to win.

The girls races start. Not surprisingly, since every other girl in this class is only in it to watch the boys, I win our tournament. The boys start and, obviously Paul and Jared make it into the top two. Paul's time is slightly faster than Jared's. I laugh as they come back over to me, pushing and shoving each other playfully.

Our teacher shows up the tournament schedule. In this one, it's an elimination setting where there's two groups and the winners of both groups, face each other for the title. I'm first up and I run against a boy named Jimmy. I win, beating him by a few meters. Then a girl names Kat runs against a boy named Ethan. He beats her by a long shot. Next up is Paul against a girl named Priscilla. Clearly he wins and Jared wins against a girl named Julie.

In the next round, I beat Ethan. But what I really want to see is who wins between Jared and Paul. Paul may have beaten him in the qualifiers, but it was tight. So this one will most likely be too. Our teacher blows the whistle and they take off; as fast as they can without making it look too suspicious. I cheer for Paul, obviously, while the rest of the class is split down the middle for who they cheer for.

Jared crosses the finish line about half a foot ahead of Paul. I can't help but laugh as I see the mad look on Paul's face. "Grow up you big baby," I tease him.

He mock glares at me before saying cockily to Jared, "I'll get ya next time, bro."

As Jared and I line up, I grin at him, "You should totally let me win."

He rolls his eyes. "In your dreams, Callahan, you're going down."

I smirk. "We'll see about that." Although I already know that I'm going to lose. I might as well try my best. He can't go his full speed, so I may have a chance. Not.

The whistle blows and I bolt off as fast as I can. About halfway through I realize we're about even. "Thought you weren't going to go easy on me."

He grins over at me, "Well I can't make you look too bad."

I scoff and push myself harder. Why can't I have super speed running? Like expected, Jared wins but he does a good job of keeping it close. "Nice run," he praises.

"Thanks, nice fake run."

He laughs as we head back to the group. No one is really surprised but a few people fake an, "I thought you almost had it." I return a smile. People here sure do like to lie.

Once the bell rings, we meet Kim at the front steps and start towards Emily's. "Your boyfriend is mean," I tell her, pouting.

Grinning, she laughs. "Oh, what did you do now?" she demands.

He holds up his hands, chuckling. "Nothing! She's just upset that I'm a better runner than her."

I sneer at him jokingly, taking Paul's hand in mine. "So are you finally going to tell me what we're doing?"

Paul shakes his head, as Kim and Jared giggly. So she does know... Liar. "No, then you might not come."

I groan. "Well that's encouraging."

They roll their eyes at me and we continue on to Emily's. We arrive and I find no one there except for Sam and Emily which is strange. Usually every time I come here it's packed. They greet us cheerfully. "Are you all ready to go?" Sam asks us.

I don't answer because I don't even know what we're doing. "Everlie and I just have to change," Kim informs him.

"We what?" I question. She throws me a bathing suit that I immediately realize is mine. "How do you have my bathing suit?"

She snorts. "Don't worry, I didn't steal it. I got your mom to give me it this morning while I was waiting for you."

"Why wouldn't you just tell me to bring it this morning?"

"So you wouldn't have had all day to come up with an excuse to get out of it," Paul informs me as Emily shoos Kim and I into the bathroom and bedroom to change.

When I come out, I notice Paul staring at me with a glassy-eyed expression. I blush and wrap the towel Emily gave me around my body tightly. I have a nice body, muscly legs, arms and even abs. But I don't like people staring at me like that, even Paul.

He pouts, wrapping his arm around my waist. "Why'd you have to do that?" he wonders, kissing my cheek.

I smirk, not sure how to answer. As the six of us start walking down the door, I begin to wonder why they thought I wouldn't want to go swimming. I've never said that I don't like it or anything. "So why did you think I wouldn't want to go swimming?"

I hear Emily and Kim giggle as Jared and Sam roar with laughter. Paul bites back his own laughter and says slyly, "You'll see."

To my utmost surprise, we don't turn into the entrance of First Beach. In fact, we take a path leading into the forest. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Paul repeats, smiling. 

I grin crookedly, stopping at the entrance of the path. "Last time I checked, I wasn't allowed in the forest."

Paul rolls his eyes. "Come on, Evie."

I cross my arms, still grinning. I notice the other four up the path slightly, laughing hysterically. "Not until you tell me what we're doing."

He groans melodramatically. "Fine." He grins devilishly. "We're going cliff diving."

"No way!" I protest. "You can go but I'm so not going!"

Chuckling, he throws me over his shoulder and follows the rest of them up the path. "Paul!" I yell. "Put me down!" He just chuckles. I kick my legs and pound my fists on his back. "Now! I'm so not going! You can't make me!"

"Keep struggling, Ev," he smirks, "you're just giving me a better view."

I roll my eyes as I realize the way he has me positioned on his shoulder has my ass right in his face. "Jerk."

He just keeps on chuckling. I give up since flailing around isn't getting me anywhere. Before I know it, we're on top of this cliff. The only good part about this is that it's the lower cliff they brought us to, not the one they normally jump off of. Which isn't surprising; it's not exactly safe for us on the other one.

He sets me down on my feet but doesn't let go of me. "C'mon Ev, Kim and Em are going to do it and they're the biggest scaredy cats I know."

I scrunch up my face at him. "Well now they aren't because you know me."

Kim and Emily set their towels on the ground so I do what they do. Immediately, I notice Paul's gaze settle back on me. I roll my eyes. "I'm not going."

He shoots me a puppy dog look. "Please. Just once and then if you don't like it, we'll leave."

I frown. "_Fine_."

Sam and Emily jump off first and not too long after, Kim and Jared go down. Of course she mouths a "it's fun" at me before going. I take a deep breath. "I dunno about this, Paul."

He smiles softly. "Everlie, if I thought you weren't going to enjoy this or have fun, I wouldn't push you to do it." I must still look unsure – I sure as hell feel like it – because he smirks and teases, "You'll twist and turn around ten feet in the air, flip around bars that are almost 8 feet in the air, and vault yourself in the air at free will but you won't jump off a cliff? Something that everyone does all the time."

I pout, crossing my arms across my chest again. "I hate you."

He grins, wrapping his arms around my stomach. "Make sure you hold your breath before we hit the water," he whispers in my ear.

However, as soon as he jumps us off the cliff, I completely forget his warning and scream. At the top of my lungs. Paul chuckles behind me. Thankfully, Paul plugs my nose, at the same time covering my mouth, as we hit the water.

We resurface quickly and I glare at him. "That wasn't fun."

"Was this?" he murmurs before attacking my mouth. I get over my shock quickly and start kissing him. To keep myself from sinking to the bottom, I wrap my arms around his neck. Then, eventually when that still doesn't keep me up easily, I wrap my legs around his waist.

Feeling him smirk into the kiss, I roll my eyes. Pervert. Not that at this moment I'm complaining. The kiss heats up hastily, making me flustered. I don't even react when his hands roam over my butt. When I don't react badly, his hands drift up my bare stomach and rest right beside my breasts.

Something comes over me and my normal awkwardness that I feel about this stuff isn't there to make me stop him. I smile lightly into the kiss and he takes that as a "go ahead" sign. I moan as he starts massaging them tenderly.

The moan makes my senses come back and I pull away quickly. "Paul," I whisper. When he continues kissing down my jaw, I say louder, "Stop."

He does immediately and frowns. "Look, I'm sorry... I just."

I shake my head and force a smile. "Don't worry about it. Now come on."

"Do you want to go again?" he questions excitedly just as I start to swim back to the shore where Sam, Emily, Kim and Jared are waiting patiently.

"Uh, no way!" I reply. "That's the scariest thing I've ever done."

"Fine," he grumbles.

"You don't have to stop," I tell him, climbing out of the water.

"I know that."

"Hey, Ev!" Kim calls, holding up a towel. I take it gratefully. Holy god it's cooled down. I wrap it around myself, blushing madly at the fact that even if they were trying not to watch, they all saw some of what Paul and I just did. "We're gonna go again; do you guys want to come?"

I shake my head quickly. Cliff diving and I will never mix again. I smile up at Paul. They nod and take off for the cliff again. Paul follows me up towards the exit of the beach. "You know you can stay."

He looks hurt. Maybe I'm pushing that fact too hard. It's not that I don't want him around, I just feel bad that he's leaving.

"I mean, if you want. Don't feel obligated... or anything."

He smirks, and takes my hand. "I don't really feel like being a fifth wheel. Plus I'm not going to let you walk back to Emily's in just a bikini all alone. Especially looking that good."

I blush, looking away. "Shut up."

"I'm just telling you the truth."

"But once I take you home I can leave if you don't want me around..." he admits distantly.

I stop in my tracks. "Why wouldn't I want you around?" I demand.

"Well... it's nothing... just never mind." He continues on but I grab his shoulder and pull him back.

"What did I do to make you think that?" I exclaim desperately.

Anger flashes over his face but I still keep looking for an answer. I want to know what I did wrong. When he just stands there, staring into the distance, I repeat, "What did I do?"

He exhales. "_You _did nothing. I just... after in the water I wasn't sure if you still wanted to be around me."

My brow creases in confusion. "Why wouldn't I...?"

"I went too far," he whispers.

I smile, touched. I stroke his face gently. "You stopped when I asked. That's all that matters." Then I smile shyly up at him, "You're not the only one that gets carried away."

He bends down and kisses me sweetly. "Come on," he chuckles, "Let's get to Emily's before you freeze your cute little ass off."

I shove him, grinning as we hurry back. After I get dressed, I come out to find him sitting at the table. "I'm going home, and unless they're out, I'm going to try and kick my parents out so I can do some gymnastics stuff. You can come if you wanna. I really should have a spotter."

He agrees, and we head back to my house. "Mom! Dad! You home?"

Paul shakes his head as he picks up a note and wiggles it in front of my face. Smiling, I snatch it from him

_Everlie,_

_We went to get groceries. If there's anything you want that isn't on the list, just call! We shouldn't be late :)_

_Love, Mom_

I roll my eyes. "That's convenient, I guess."

I run up stairs to change into a pair of shorts and a tank top before going back downstairs.

Grabbing Paul's hand, I drag him down to the basement with me. He gives me a suggestive grin. I scoff, "In your dreams, bud, this is where all the mats are and I can't do flips without them, or at least grass or something."

He helps me pull out the mats that my parents had – fortunately – not thrown out. After they're in a straight line. Before I start doing a few tumbles, I plug my iPhone into the dock down here and click play. _Do It To Me _by Allstar Weekend happens to be the last song I listened to so it blares loudly. I blush as Paul listens to the lyrics, laughing hysterically.

"Shut up!" I laugh.

I do about five or six tumbling combinations. Testing different tumbling moves. I find it relieving when I can still do all the ones I try. Granted they aren't perfect and are a bit sloppy but I don't expect much more. Once I finish, I walk over to Paul, breathing heavily. "You done?" he asks.

I nod and he hastily gets up and starts putting the mats back in the corner. I stare at him in confusion once I see a blush creep onto his cheeks. "What are you embarrassed about?" I exclaim.

His blush deepens as he keeps his body facing away from me. "Nothing..."

I skip up to him and hug myself against him. As soon as I feel something hard poke into my stomach, I realize why he's embarrassed. I am too suddenly, but I try to tease him, "Really? I never thought _Paul Walker_ would be embarrassed about something like that."

He mock glares at me. "Oh, please! Are you listening to the lyrics of the song playing right now!" I giggle as I realize _All the Way _by Allstar Weekend playing around us. "'_California Loving was playing while we was teasing, It's hard to be alone when her phone won't stop ringing, Forget about the others, it's just you and me, Get between the covers and then you'll start believing'_," he recites, grinning at me. "That's really not the song I expected to hear on my girlfriend's iPod."

Still giggling, I ask, "And what did you expect?"

He smirks. "Hannah Montana."

I gape at him before bursting out into laughter. "Ohmigod, I hate her music!"

"Apparently you like music about – " I cut him off by kissing him on the lips.

"Don't say naughty words, Pauly," I tease. He laughs, looping his arm around my waist as we climb up the stairs.

"For such an innocent girl you sure do listen to dirty songs." He winks at me and adds, "Maybe they'll give you some ideas."

Knowing he's just joking – or at least says it as a joke – I chuckle along with him. Once we're upstairs in the kitchen, he immediately goes to the cookies Kim and I made the other day. Taking the last three, he starts eating them and then asks as an afterthought, "Oh did you want one?"

"No, Paul. Go ahead." I sit down on his lap and smile sheepishly up at him.

"What?" he mumbles through a mouthful of cookies.

"Well," I drag out, "you met my parents so I think it's fair that I meet your parents."

"Parent," he responds tensely.

"Oh, Paul, I'm so sorry," I breath, "I didn't know."

His body starts to tremble but I can tell he's still under control. "My dad left three years ago." I hug him close to me in my best attempt to comfort him.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he whispers. Then, still in a whisper, continues, "He's an asshole. But you know what the worst part is? I was just fucking like him. As much as I hated what he did to my mom, I turned into the exact same thing he was." Tears well in his eyes but he won't let them drop. I have no idea what to say, what I should say, so I just keep hugging him. He's never talked about his family before, and I don't want to say something that will make him stop.

"And I knew what I was doing. I drove my mom sick with worry, made everything so much harder. Then when I phased, it just made things worse." A hint of a smile appears on his face. "When I told her I had an actual girlfriend, she didn't even believe. She thought I was just making up an excuse to leave more often."

I smile softly at him. He's really torn up about this. "But you're not like that anymore," I assure him. "She'll notice that, if she hasn't already."

He sighs quietly, closing his eyes. Then a smile lights up his beautiful face. "I would love for you to come meet my mom."

I beam at him. "Thank you." I glance over at the clock on the microwave. "You better get going."

He frowns but nods. "Yeah, I'll text you when you can come meet her."

"Okay." I walk him to the door.

"Good night, Everlie," he whispers, leaning in with just centimeters left between us. He leans down and kisses me lustfully. Cupping his face in my hands, I kiss him back.

Pulling back after a few moments, I say breathlessly, "Good night, Paul."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Not too long after Paul left, I get a text from him saying his mom would love to meet me. And that he'll come pick me up at eleven tomorrow morning. Instantly, I'm nervous. I've never met someone's mom before and from what Paul probably used to bring home, she's probably thinks pretty lowly of me.

A doors bangs downstairs before I hear my voice call, "Everlie! Do you wanna come down and help us put away the groceries?"

Since I don't have anything better to do, I go down quickly. After we put everything away, my dad announces that he has to work early tomorrow and goes off to bed. Mom asks if I want to watch a movie with her so I do. I choose Romeo and Juliet just because it's the only option she gives me that I somewhat like. It's even more stupid than I remember though. Guns and freaking post offices? Way to ruin Shakespeare... But Leonardo DiCaprio is amazing so it's a worthwhile two hours of my life.

The next morning, I wake up really early, too nervous to sleep. Paul isn't coming until one so I have about six hours to get ready. Knowing I'll probably drive myself insane with the amount of time on my hands, I go on a longer run than usual and drag out my shower as long as I can until my mom yells at me to get out.

I rummage through my drawer – namely throwing all clothes every which way – and even after going through everything I own, I still have at least one doubt about each article. Some are too slutty. To me at least... Some are too ugly. Some are too sloppy. Hell, most of what I own are t-shirts, jeans, shorts and jogging pants. I don't even have any somewhat nice blouses.

Deciding that she's probably not going to scrutinize what I'm wearing that much, I put on a pair of jeans, a tank top and a plain gray cardigan. It's about the nicest thing I own. The hours tick by and thanks to my nervous procrastinating, I finish with just minutes to spare before Paul shows up.

"Hey, beautiful." I look up to see him leaning again my door frame, grinning over at me.

I blush. "Hello, yourself." Then I send him a questioning look; how did he get here without me knowing?

"Your mom let me in," he informs me, seeming to know what I meant, "unlike your dad she still likes me."

Rolling my eyes, I pull myself off my bed and walk over to him. "You ready?" I ask nervously.

Paul nods. "She'll love you," he assures me.

"I hope so," I mutter, forgetting that no matter how lowly I talk he'll still hear me. He just laughs and leads me out of the house. I yell goodbye to my mom. I'm surprised to see he actually has his truck but then again, I have no idea where he lives. He lives a fairly long drive away – for La Push at least – because it ends up being almost a ten minute drive.

When we park in his driveway, I stay seated. "She'll love you," he repeats.

I sigh. "I don't know what to say to her."

He just chuckles and gets out of the car. Slowly, I do the same. He wraps his arm around my waist and squeezes me gently. I smile softly as we enter his home. "Mom! We're here!" he calls. In a few moments, a woman with distinct similarity to Paul walks around the corner. She smiles at me although I can tell she's judging my every move.

"This is Everlie. Ev, this is my mom," Paul introduces us, grinning at my embarrassment.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," I say shyly. Suddenly I feel like I'm four again and instead of cowering into my mom's side, I want to cower into Paul's.

"It's nice to meet you, too. Come on in to the kitchen, Paul talks about you a lot. I'm Laura, by the way." She walks into what I assume is the kitchen.

We follow as Paul groans, "Mom, don't embarrass me."

She rolls her eyes as we sit down at the table. "Well, Everlie, you happen to be the first girl I've seen with Paul in this house who's intention of being here was actually to meet me."

I blush even more deeply and even Paul starts to look embarrassed. "Um..."

She continues, "In fact when Paul told me about you, I didn't believe him."

"He told me that," I respond still sounding like a scared little child. Gosh, I can give live interviews without stuttering but I can't have a simple conversation with my boyfriends mother?

She raises an eyebrow and I find out where Paul gets his smirk from. Only it's hot on him and scary as hell on her. "Oh he did, did he?"

I nod sheepishly, noticing Paul sending his mother silencing glares. She doesn't pay attention to him. "I'm surprised. Actually I'm surprised you two do much talking at all," she tells us, although it's clearly directed snidely at me.

My eyes probably pop out of my head and my jaw is probably hung open but I just can't stop them. Did she really just say that? I feel Paul rubbing my back in slow circles. His attempt at an apology. But he doesn't object or say anything back to his mother like he would have if he was talking to anybody else. It partially annoys me; however, I know he feels bad about all he did to his mom. So he probably doesn't want to yell at her or talk back. Which is obviously what will happen if he opens his mouth.

I still feel insulted. Making it worse, when we don't say anything, she takes that as a "we just have sex all the time" reaction and looks at me condescendingly. "I thought so."

Paul's arm starts shaking slightly and I look at him warningly. He sighs and starts to calm down. Still, he doesn't say a thing. "Mrs. Walker," I say quietly but as soon as her gaze meets mine I shut up, all words lost.

"Yes?" she demands, raising an eyebrow.

I smile nervously. "Um... never mind, I just uh..."

"Don't feel afraid to say anything Everlie. You're welcome to speak in this house." She smiles forcefully at me and I think she's beginning to acknowledge Paul's glares.

Still having no confidence to say anything, I just stay quiet. She asks me a bunch of questions about food and Texas. I feel like I'm being interrogated. Eventually, she asks, "So you used to do gymnastics?" She may be trying to be nice recently, but she still scares me.

"Um, yeah... I, uh, did," I answer awkwardly. _This _has to be the the topic she moves on to? "But I don't anymore."

"Oh did you get tired of it?" she asks casually. It seems to be another snide comment but then again I may be a tad over-sensitive at this point.

"Mom, stop," Paul steps in. He glances at me apologetically.

I shake my head. "No it's okay," I tell him, although it kind of isn't but I can pretend... "I actually got injured and then the doctor found inflated disks in my back, so I can't really do it anymore." Unless Dr. Cullen happens to be a genius. Fingers crossed. 

She blinks and immediately looks sorry. "Oh." She blinks again. "I'm sorry to hear that."

I shrug. Then out of no where, I hear a baby cry. My eyebrows furrow. Why would there be a baby here? "Paul," Laura says, "want to go get the baby?"

Breath catches in my throat, and I feel my heart-rate increase. Is the baby his? It must be his; he said his left a few years ago. But he promised me he didn't have a baby. What if he lied? What if he did have a kid? How could he lie like that though? I mean, why would he tell me that he's a giant wolf but not that he's a father? I look up at Paul helplessly. He's already pushed himself out of the chair and heading out of the room by then.

Laura clears her throat; quickly my head snaps toward her. "I want to ask this while Paul is out of the room." Not that he's not listening right now... "Are you guys being safe? Because I really can't handle another baby in this house."

I gulp, not sure if her last sentence proves my suspicions of Paul or not. Then her first one hits me. Being safe? "Excuse me?"

She looks slightly annoyed. "Are. You. Guys. Being. Safe?"

"We're not doing anything," I exclaim. Then surprised at my outburst, I bite my lip and stare at the ground. _Way to make a good impression Evie._

She smirks slightly at me before running her fingers through her graying hair. "Look Everlie, you seem like a very nice girl. But I know my son. And he would not be with a girl if he wasn't having sex. He's sadly not like that. So just promise me, you two will be safe."

I feel like I'm on the brink of tears. For the first twenty minutes of meeting her, she makes it clear she thinks I'm just another bimbo her son sleeps around with and then just as she's starting to be somewhat nice and make me feel a tiny bit less awkward, she says _this_! "Well clearly you don't know him because we're. Not. Having. Sex."

Her face tightens and then she looks at me with sympathy. "Well, sweetheart, if you really believe that, I'm sorry that my sons going to break your heart."

I blink back tears rapidly. Paul's mom really knows how to build up my self-esteem... I hear Paul coming down the stairs and we just stare at each other. Not saying a word. When Paul enters the room, I can tell he's pissed. The little girl in his arms tugs at the collar on his shirt though and when he looks at her, his expression does a one-eighty and he has a goofy, loving smile on his face. Part of me finds this adorable; another part confirms my suspicions.

He doesn't come back over to the table. He just stands in the doorway, bouncing the baby – who looks more like she's two – on his hip. "Paul, I still have to go get groceries. You'll watch Paige while I'm gone."

Paul gains a "yeah right" expression on his face. How can he act like that about his daughter? "Mom, I already have plans with Ev, today. Take her with you."

His mom looks at his disapprovingly and is about to yell at him when I speak up, "It's okay, we can stay and watch her. I don't mind." I guess she'll kind of in some way be my stepdaughter someday so I might as well get used to it.

Laura looks shocked but smiles pleasantly at me. "At least _someone _knows what it's like to be responsible."

Paul just glares at the ground but I can tell he's trying his best not to snap at her. Sighing, his mom grabs car keys and leaves. We head silently to the living room where Paul puts a Dora DVD on the small television and sits down on the floor with Paige. I follow suit and watch as he plays with her: smirking at her toddler ways, making her giggle. It's adorable, yes. But I still can't get over that he lied to me.

As Paige gets occupied with the television and begins to ignore Paul, he looks up at me melancholy. "I cannot believe she said that to you. I am so sorry. She doesn't know about the wolf thing so she can't understand how I feel about you."

I nod, breaking his gaze. In an attempt to occupy myself, I start playing with Paige's black curls. Her initial shyness toward me had disappears quickly and she smiles cutely up at me. I smile softly back but keep avoiding Paul. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Paul frown. He looks more upset and confused than ever.

"Did she hurt you Everlie?" he asks softly, caressing my cheek. "I'm sorry everything she said was so harsh. I should have stopped her but I just couldn't."

I nod again, not wanting to pull away from his touch but still not wanting to look at him. "I understand," I say reasonably. "She had ever right to say those things, and think those things." _Especially since you have a child._

His frown deepens and I know he's trying to figure out what's wrong. I keep playing with Paige's hair, not sure what to say or do. I know things happen and clearly after finding out Paul's past, it makes sense. But I still don't get why he had to lie to me. Did he not trust me enough to tell me? Did he think I would run?

Then a hint of a smile appears on his face. "Everlie look at me." I shake my head, the tears pricking at the back of my eyes returning. "Evie, please." He turns my chin up to face him but I keep my eyes on Paige. He chuckles and that makes me look up at him questionably.

"What's so funny?" I whisper.

"You," he smirks, pecking me on the lips.

I don't kiss him back, I just stare at him blankly. "How?"

He chuckles deeply again and wraps his arms around me from behind, snuggling his head into my shoulder. "She's not mine," he whispers huskily into my ear.

My heart stops and I murmur, "What do you mean?"

Smirking, he kisses my face repeatedly. "She's my little sister. The reason I hate my dad most of all is because he knocked my mom up and then left. I can't believe you thought she was mine. Ev, I promised you I didn't have any kids. Don't you remember? Besides, do you really think I could hang out this much with you and have a kid too?"

Suddenly I burst into tears; they're mostly happy tears. Paul didn't lie to me. He doesn't have a kid. Relief washes over me and I smile lightly through the stream that is my tears. "I'm so sorry. It's just you've been with so many girls that are pretty and hot and … sleepable with... and I guess I just get kind of jealous and scared that you'll find someone better or you have something that ties you to someone else. Plus the way your mom just increased that worry."

He exhales. "Oh, Evie, there's no one else and there never will be. And I promise I'll never lie to you. Ever. Besides when you decide to be, you are plenty 'sleepable with'. I love you."

An overwhelming wave of joy breaks over me as I hear these words. Any doubts I ever had about my own feelings for him vanish and I respond, "I love you, too Paul." Although a huge grin out over both of our faces, I can't help but keep crying. They just won't stop falling.

All of a sudden, Paige jumps up from her seat, runs over and grabs a tissue off the coffee table. She rushes over to me and shoves it in my face. Looking at me with a sad expression on her face, she asks, "Does Ewerwie nee' a tithue?"

I take it chuckling and pull her into a hug. "Thank you Paige." She's so adorable. "You know," I tell Paul, smiling back at him, "in a way it kinda sucks that she's not yours. She's just too cute."

He rolls his eyes and wraps Paige and I into a bear hug. "Nah, she's too much of a brat to be mine. My child's going to be an angel."

I giggle as Paige pouts at him. "No, Paul. _Our _child is going to be an angel. Only my innocence can counteract how much of a devil your child would be otherwise."

He smirks. "You're going to get it." He starts chasing me around his small house, acting like he's mad. But I can tell by how excited he was when I said "our child" that he won't be mad for a really long time.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Throughout the next few weeks, everything goes smoothly – gymnastics-wise. I do all my workouts and don't get any pain which is great considering my next appointment is tomorrow and I've had no back pain. That's something I'm extremely pleased about.

Things with Paul have been going well too. We've babysat Paige a few times and although I haven't managed to convince his mom we're not sleeping together, she is nice to me now and Paul said she told him she loved me. Having your boyfriend's mom like you is always a good thing. Too bad my dad doesn't feel the same way about Paul that his mom feels about me.

He's still on his "Paul is a menace to society streak" and it's getting ridiculous. No matter how polite Paul is to him, he still won't like him. My mother and I have spent hours trying to get him to like him; it's just not working.

"Hey dad," I say, leaning on the back of the couch he's resting on.

"Yeah, Ev?"

"I'm going over to Paul's; we're going out. I have my cell if you need anything." Then I shoot him a stern look. "But _don't _call just to check up! You embarrass me enough when he's around."

"Everlie, I'm just trying to protect you," Dad disputes. "You're my little girl and I don't want you to grow up."

I laugh and bend down to hug him. "I'll always be your little girl. I'm just growing up."

"Well I liked it when you were growing up without boys in your life," he grumbles.

I roll my eyes. "Oh Dad. You're being ridiculous. I'm not doing anything stupid. And I'm not going to."

"Yeah, well I trust you. It's not _you _I'm worried about." He eyes me meaningfully and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"You don't have to, okay? Paul's a great guy and he's never done anything to make you not like him. So stop being a worry wart and just like him. Please?"

He shakes his head. "I've heard some thing, Everlie..."

I stand back up and frown at him. "I know," I whisper, "but I also know Paul. He might not be the smartest or nicest or most whatever you're looking for guy out there. For you. But he is for me Dad. I really like him, and I wish you'd just accept him. Besides, why do you even care about the rumours? They didn't bother you the first day you met him."

"I didn't know he'd be dating my daughter. I also hadn't heard the rumours at that point." We stare at each other for awhile and I have a feeling that I just wasted another ten minutes trying to aimlessly convince him.

"Fine, Dad, whatever." I head towards the door. "I'll be home by eleven."

I hear him sigh behind me. "Have fun," he calls, not sure what else to say.

The walk to Paul's house is a half an hour but since I am ready early and I don't see the point of him coming farther into town then back out again just to pick me up. Tonight Paul wants to go to Port Angeles. Even though we hang out pretty near every day, our dates are usually just at First Beach, one of our houses or even Emily's house. We don't go out of La Push much so I'm looking forward to tonight.

I'm also slightly worried. Does he have no faith in that he'll behave tomorrow and he's hoping to be super nice tonight to make up for tomorrow? After all I am allowing him to come to my appointment, and he's not exactly the calmest person ever... Hopefully it's just him being nice and not an apology.

When I arrive at his house, I knock tentatively. I'm wearing a "sun dress" that I bought with Kim a couple weekends ago and Paul hasn't seen it yet. It's a little more revealing than I normally wear. It has a green floral print with a halter v-neck cut that falls mid-thigh.

Paul opens the door with a giggly Paige on his hip. "Ewerwie!" Paige shrills as she strains in Paul's grasp to reach me. Chuckling, I take her from Paul and kiss her on the forehead. "Hi Paige." Entering the house, I smile up at Paul. "Hello."

Pulling me into his side, he kisses my cheek. "You look amazing," he whispers in my ear.

"Ewww!" Paige yells. "Mama! Pawl and Ewerwie are bein' gwoss!"

Laura walks over to the entryway, her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. "C'mon," she says, putting her arms out for Paige. "Let's let them go on their date."

Reluctantly, Paige let's go of me and goes to her mother. She has a little pout plastered on her face and it's clear she isn't pleased that we're leaving. Once they head off to the living room, Paul pins me to the wall. Smirking, he asks huskily, "Is that a new dress?"

"Is that a new shirt?" I counter, nodding towards his shirt since he has my arms pinned above my head. He's wearing a long sleeve, button-down, white shirt and considering there's no stains or tears, it's clear that he's never worn it before.

"I'm glad you noticed," he teases, kissing me softly on the lips before releasing me. Opening the door, he gestures for me to go the car. I do and he follows me willingly. I glance back and notice him checking me out. I glare at him.

Holding his hands up in defense, he jokes, "Hey, me checking you out is what gets me through the night."

I roll my eyes and get into his truck. "I do really like your dress, though," he tells me, smiling cutely.

I giggle. "Thanks. You look pretty great in that shirt."

"I do, don't I?" Leaning across the cab, he kisses me.

I push him away. "Watch the road!"

He starts laughing but he does as he's told. "Are you nervous about tomorrow?"

I shrug. "A little. But my back hasn't hurt so I think it will go well. I'm more nervous about how you'll behave."

Pretending to look offended, he gasps. "I'll have you know I am _always _on my best behaviour. Thank you very much!"

"Because you have clearly proven that since I've met you."

He scrunches up his face at me then continues driving. We chat and listen to the radio on the way to Port Angeles. We park on the main street of the city and Paul opens the door for me to get out of the truck. Smiling at him, I hop down and follow him down the street. "Are you hungry?"

I nod, taking his outstretched hand. "Famished."

We enter an Italian restaurant and wait in line for the hostess to seat us. It takes about ten minutes but eventually we get a booth seat. As we look through the menu, my stomach growls.

Paul chuckles, "Ah, you weren't kidding."

A waitress who looks to be the same age as us walks over with a plastered on smile. "Hey, I'm Ellie, I'll be your server tonight. Can I get you anything to drink? Something for starters?" Her eyes, as well as smile, are glued to Paul. She doesn't acknowledge my existence.

"I'll have a Pepsi," Paul responds, then looks at me. "Ev, what do you want?" 

I bite my lip and without meeting eye contact with the waitress, order, "Um, a 7up."

She nods unenthusiastically at me and then grins flirtatiously to Paul, "Any appetizers."

"Some mozzarella sticks please." Paul ignores the girls and grins lopsidedly at me.

My heart flutters inside my chest and I chuckle. Clearly he was listening when I rambled on about my favourite foods. The waitress storms off. "You remembered."

"Of course." He reaches out and plays with my hand across the tables. "How could I forget? Would you forget my favourite food?"

I roll my eyes, squeezing his hand. "Anything edible is your favourite food and that's pretty hard to forget."

He laughs. "So what do you want to eat?"

I shrug. "Not really sure yet. You?"

He nods and tells me some Italian dish that looks delicious. I decide to get the half portion of it. In a few minutes the waitress brings us our drinks and mozzarella sticks. She smiles at Paul before heading back to the kitchen. I shove a stick in my mouth, attempting not to glare. I don't want Paul to think I'm one of those jealous, self-conscious girlfriends even though I completely am. I just don't want him to think that.

I hear him chuckle and glance up. "What?" I mutter our through a mouthful of food.

Shaking his head, he continues to laugh. "Nothing."

I roll my eyes and continue to chew. "So what are we doing after we eat?"

He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. "My trucks empty."

"Paul," I sigh, attempting not to grin at him. 

"Everlie," he grins back at me. He leans forward and kisses me roughly on the lips. I kiss him back for a second and then pull back.

"We're in public, Paul."

"So?" he teases. "We're in public when we're in La Push."

"That doesn't really count; besides, we don't make out in restaurants in La Push."

"Well we might if there actually was a restaurant."

"Oh really?" I challenge. He nods. "I highly doubt that."

"I don't."

"I do."

"I don't."

"I do."

"You're so childish!" I laugh.

"You love it," he says sweetly.

Still laughing, I nod. "Maybe. But just a little."

We joke around for another twenty minutes or so and just as that stupid waitress is out of my mind, she shows up with our food. Like I expect, she completely ignores me as she sets down my food. However, as she sets down Paul's food, she bats her eyelashes. "I finally remember where I know you from," she states coyly.

Paul's face tightens and he says harshly, "You have the wrong person. I don't know you."

She giggles, sneering at me. "Oh Paul, when you're done trying to fool this girl, just call me over." She strides off laughing and Paul starts to shake violently.

"Paul," I laugh. He blinks at me as he realizes I'm laughing. _Why aren't you upset?_ his eyes scream. "Please calm down. You're ruining our date," I joke lightly.

"Aren't you mad? Or upset? That that bitch – "

I hold up my hands. "No. Not about what she just said anyway. You're not going anywhere are you?" 

He shakes his head slowly, still confused that I'm not freaking out, I guess.

"Then why would I be mad or upset?" He shrugs, almost shyly. "So let's eat. Then we can go do something _outside _of your truck."

His signature Paul smirk appears. "All right. I'm sure we can sneak into the bathrooms."

I practically choke on my food as I snort. "You are too horny for your own good."

He beams at me. "I'll take that as a compliment."

We continue to chat as we finish our dinner and I'm not surprised when it's a different waiter bringing our check. Paul pays and then we leave the restaurant. Instead of seeing a movie or going to the mall, we walk down to the park that is in the center of Port Angeles. It's really beautiful. We stroll around, hand in hand.

"It's lovely here," I say breathlessly.

Paul smiles and nods. "I'm glad you like it; I figured you would."

"Have you been here before?"

"Yup, I brought Paige here one time while my mom was shopping. She loved the playground."

I gasp. "There's a playground?" I exclaim excitedly.

He chuckles. "Don't tell me you want to go there."

"Please!" I beg, giggling.

He rolls his eyes and points to the path to his left. "It's this way."

Still giggling, I skip in the direction he points, dragging him behind me. He laughs. "You are such a kid."

I look back at him innocently. "You mean you don't like playgrounds?"

He rolls his eyes and sits down on one of the railings on the play equipment. "They aren't exactly my favourite thing."

I jump up and swing back and forth on one of the monkey bars and grin at him. "Well you aren't exactly doing your _favourite _things right now so you might as well do mine right now."

He comes over to me and wraps his arms around my waist. Even though I'm hanging off monkey bars in the air, his head is still above mine. "If I do your favourite thing with you, will you do mine with me?"

"Yes," I tell him, smiling. His face lights up and I can tell he's about to say "really?" when I laugh. "In your dreams at least."

He pouts. "You're mean."

I pull myself up to him and kiss him. He responds quickly and before I know it our tongues are battling for dominance. His arms wrap around my waist, holding me up, so I release the bars and tangle my fingers in his hair. The kiss continues to heat up until we hear an ear-piercing whistle.

Our heads snap up towards where the noise came. A few guys who look our age – and scary looking – are walking towards us. Paul rolls his eyes, and places me slightly behind him. "Problem?" he asks.

"Yeah," one of the guys smirks, "Why don't you share the babe?"

Paul growls at him. "Why don't leave us the fuck alone? Or you'll be sorry."

The guy grins cockily. "It's three against one douche bag."

Paul begins to shake so I tuck at his shirt hastily. "Paul, let's just go," I whisper.

Paul glares but nods slightly. The guys continue to throw snide comments at him as we walk away but I finally manage to get him out of the park. "People in this city are assholes," he states as we walk down the street towards his truck.

"Well," I announce, "despite these horrible people, I had a wonderful time tonight."

He beams, opening the passenger door to his truck for me. "I'm glad."

He gets in and starts the engine. Instead of buckling myself in the passenger side, I slide into the middle and attach the buckle. I see Paul smirk from the corner of my eye as I snuggle slightly into his side. He wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer – I'm really glad his truck is an automatic.

He laughs at me as he pulls onto the road. "What?" I complain, laughing. "I'm really cold."

"Maybe you should've brought a jacket."

"Why would I bring a jacket when I have you?"

He grins, kissing the top of my head as he stops at a red light. "Good point."

Her dress: .com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/thumb24532-sundress_ :)


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"I'll behave!" Paul whines, promising for the millionth time that he will be nice to Dr. Cullen at my appointment. I'm still not convinced that he'll pull it off, but I'm sure he'll try to. Plus, if things start to get bad, I can just kick Paul out. Our deal is that he has to behave properly to stay.

I smirk, unbuckling my seat belt in his truck and slipping out. "I hope so."

He pouts, walking around the truck and slipping his hand in mine as we head towards the hospital entrance. "You don't believe me."

"Let's put it this way," I chuckle, "if you actually behave I'll give you a present."

"Do I get to pick this present?" He winks at me, holding the door open.

Rolling my eyes, I shove passed him and over to the registration office. The receptionist smiles at me. "Hello Everlie, you can go right ahead. Dr. Cullen will be with you shortly."

I smile at her and thank her. I don't have to look back to know Paul is frowning like a little baby. He follows me into the room and sits in one of the chairs as I sit on the patient bed. "Smile Paul." He forces a twisted little grin, reminding me of a five year old who didn't get their way. "You're not being nice." He attempts to smile slightly more real looking this time. I giggle. "That's better."

Dr. Cullen comes in a few minutes later. He pauses when he notices Paul looking completely perplexed. He blinks a couple times before composing his face. "Paul. Good seeing you again."

Paul nods shortly and I glare at him. He forces a smile at Dr. Cullen unwillingly. "You too." I attempt not to laugh.

Dr. Cullen smiles over at me. "Hello, Everlie. Have you been doing your exercises?"

I nod.

"Good." He scribbles something down on his clipboard. "Any abnormal pains? Swelling?"

I shake my head. "Not that I've been aware of." He asks me a few more questions before telling me that he's done some research and that we'll be doing a few more tests. Paul isn't too pleased when he mentions blood test. I roll my eyes and tell him to shut up or get out. Dr. Cullen laughs which makes Paul even more mad but he keeps cool, probably not wanting to look like a whipped loser.

"So, I found in my research," he starts, "that what we discussed last month is definitely a possibility. However, how much, and what activities you can do, completely depends on the person themselves." He looks at me pointedly and I figure that's his way of saying there's a chance it won't be possible. "But, no pain in the first month is definitely a good sign. We'll do your tests in just a few minutes; I have to contact the labs and get everything set up for the tests. It will only be a moment."

I nod and as he's heading out the door, he smiles back at me and says, "I take it you weren't allowed to come without a chaperone this time around?"

I giggle, mostly at the pissed off look on Paul's face. "Yeah, I told you I'd get in trouble."

Dr. Cullen laughs on his way out. Paul, however, is not when I look over at him. I grin widely at him. "Stop being such a grump."

He pouts and crosses his arms across his chest. "Well excuse me for not being pleased that my girlfriend is joking around with a leach. Or that he's doing tests on her."

I roll my eyes. "It's not like it's a mammogram or something like that, it's a _blood test _and an_ x-ray_. Why can't you be like Jake? He doesn't mind them that much."

He smirks. "Well, if it was a mammogram I'd be pissed that a leach got further with you than I did." To show he's joking he winks and then says somewhat seriously, "And Jake only likes them because in a few years he'll be fucking their offspring."

I cock an eyebrow.

"Jake imprinted on Nessie. She's these two leaches daughter. Bella had her while she was human and there's this whole story I'll tell you another time... Anyway, his imprints part vamp so we all have to put up with them whether we like it or not. Which I'm sure you know I don't."

"Well, can you please be more nice to him. I know he's like your enemy, or whatever, but he's really helping me."

He sighs dramatically, making me laugh. "Fine."

Dr. Cullen comes back in shortly after and we quickly go and do the tests. Since there's not as many as last time, it doesn't take as long. Once we're finished taking them, we go back to the room. He already has the x-ray results so he shows them to me. Paul moves closer to the patient bed where I'm sitting – surprising me since this makes him closer to the doctor – so he can see the x-rays.

Dr. Cullen points at the picture, comparing it to the last ones. "You may not be able to tell just by looking at it with the naked eye, but the inflammation of your disks, with your recent activities, is the same as it has been. So doing what you've been doing hasn't been affecting you which is a good start. This month, I want you to do thirty to forty minutes of what you've been doing, once a week. Again, if you feel any pain or discomfort I want you to come see me. If I'm not available at the hospital and you believe it's serious, I'm sure Paul wouldn't mind bringing you to the house. If it will help you," he adds, probably noticing Paul's _are you serious? _look. His last words work though and Paul nods.

After we go through the paper and bill work, we thank him – Paul even does – and leave the hospital. When we're in the parking lot, I hug Paul impulsively. "Oh, Paul, I'm so excited," I gush. "I mean it's not even that much but it's something. You know?" I can't help but smile so widely I'm sure my face is going to break.

Paul doesn't seem to mind, he just smiles and hugs me back. "I'm glad you're happy."

Since it's almost two thirty, there is no sense in going back to school. However, since La Push is so small, there's not really that much chance of us not being seen. Which means word will definitely get back to one of our parents that we weren't in school. Paul's mom wouldn't like him being with me and not in school and my parents would definitely be suspicious.

So we go straight to Sam and Emily's. When we arrive, Emily is mixing muffins in a bowl and Sam is reading the newspaper on the table. People still do that nowadays? Immediately, Emily smiles at me. "Hey guys. How was the doctors?"

"As good as it can be with a leach there," Paul grumbles.

I shove him. "It was good actually besides the part that Paul pouted like a five year old the entire time."

Sam shakes his head at Paul, chuckling. "Wow Paul, aren't you mature."

Emily snorts while Paul and I sit down at the table. "I think we established a long time ago that Paul doesn't have a mature bone in his body."

We all laugh; except Paul who glares at us. "You guys are douchebags, you know that?"

I frown at him. "You're mean."

He pecks me quickly, smiling at me. "Says the one who made me sit in an office with a leach for two hours."

"Alright children," Emily chastises, "settle down and eat a muffin. Or in your case, Paul, a lot of muffins."

I giggle, nibbling on a muffin. "So what have you guys been up to?"

They share a private look and by that and Emily's giggle, I get the feeling I don't want to know. I immediately feel awkward and start blushing. "N-never mind."

They all laugh at my embarrassment and I feel like the five year old. Even the younger wolves wouldn't be embarrassed by this. They would laugh, or make another joke. I can't though; I'm just not like that. And they all are which makes me feel even more childish. Biting my lip, I stare at my lap. It's shameful enough knowing your not "doing it" with your soul mate while everyone else is, but it's worse when they all know it. Hell, they probably spend the whole time laughing at me.

Well except for Paul. He probably spends his free time jacking off in his room since he's not getting any. I shudder at the thought which makes me feel even more like a kid. After the room remains silent for a few moments, guilty looks flood Emily's and Sam's faces while Paul nudges me softly. "Ev? You okay?"

"Of course." But my voice comes out high-pitched, giving away that in a way, I'm not really. They all look worried so I force a smile. "Just, uh, thinking."

They nod but I know they don't believe me. Also, by the look on Paul's eyes I can tell he's not going to forget about this. I try to act like it's not bothering me and act chipper. The nagging in my head won't go away though so I can tell I'm not doing a good job at pretending. "Anything new with patrol?" I ask quickly although if there is, I don't want to know.

Sam and Paul shake their heads. "Nothing at all. It's been really quiet which is a good thing," Sam informs me, clearly pleased. I'm glad too, it's not always easy to sleep at night when I think Paul's outside chasing vampires.

I nod, continuing to eat away at my muffin. Paul and Sam ease their way into a conversation about something – I'm not really listening – and all three eventually act like the awkward scene never happened. If I wasn't still fidgeting with my hands nervously, you would never know. But I am and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop.

If it bothers me this much, wouldn't Paul be bothered by it? What if he is and just doesn't want to say something about it? I mean, the guys must tease him about this and Paul isn't the type of guy to just sit back and take things...

The hours pass painfully slowly – for me at least. Eventually school is out and we are able to leave. While we're walking down their driveway, I tell Paul I'm just going to go back to my house and maybe sleep. Not surprisingly, he doesn't allow me to get far before he stops me.

"Look," he says, looking me in the eyes as we continue walking along the road, "I know you didn't want to tell me what was wrong when we were with Sam and Em, but Evie it's just you and me now. You can tell me."

"It doesn't make a difference whether they're around or not, they find out anyway," I mutter bitterly, breaking his gaze and increasing my speed towards my house.

I hear him groan from behind me but he remains quiet. In fact if I couldn't hear his footsteps following behind me, I might not even know he was there. The remainder of the walk to my house stays quiet and I wonder if I upset him. It's not his fault they find out. I definitely couldn't not think about our time together so I can't exactly expect him to. It's still difficult, and annoying. Especially when I know you can't really blame Paul.

We enter my empty house, since my parents are still working, but he still doesn't say a thing to me. We're facing each other now in my house's entryway. I'm about to apologize when Paul whispers, "I'm sorry."

I blink in surprise. _He's_ sorry?

Again, before I have a chance to speech, Paul continues, "I know it's hard having the pack know everything we do. Believe me I try to not think about it, but it's hard. Really hard. Please don't be upset about it."

I bite my lip anxiously. "Can we not talk about this here?" The last thing I want is my parents coming home early and hearing any wolfy talk. He nods, so I walk upstairs and into my room. It's really the only place where they won't hear if they happen to come home. So he doesn't get any ideas, especially with the conversation we're about to have, I leave the door open.

Once he seats himself beside me on my bed, I sigh, "Don't apologize; it's not your fault. I know that. I get it's something that can't be avoided. And I'm not mad. It's just, it's really embarrassing having them know... stuff."

"What's embarrassing though?" Paul asks. "It's not like we've actually done anything that's..." He trails off and his eyes meet my gaze. As they do, something seems to click in Paul's head. His mouths forms a slight "o" shape but I doubt he really understands. "I thought you were just embarrassed there 'cause you aren't comfortable with that... stuff. That's not why though is it?"

I stare fixedly at the ground, willing myself not to cry from humiliation. However, I want Paul to continue so I can see what his theory behind my embarrassment is. I shake my head.

He sighs in frustration. "Then why is it? The only thing I can think is that you're embarrassed that they know you don't want to have sex which is just stu – " I look at him wide-eyed and frowning. This makes him stop in his tracks. "That's why? Ev, that's pointless, even if they did have something to say about it, their opinion on it doesn't matter. It's none of their business."

"So you're saying it doesn't bother you?" I inquire.

"That they say shit about it?" He shrugs. "I guess it gets annoying but it's not something I can't handle." The smirk on his face tells me he usually handles these situations violently...

Despite me also wondering what he just answered, that wasn't what I meant by my question. "No," I whisper. "Does it bother you that we're not having sex?"

"No!" he exclaims quickly. Too quickly.

Frowning, I gulp. "Really?" He nods. I blink back tears, not even sure why I'm so emotional about this. "Not that long ago you promised me you wouldn't lie to me, yet you just did."

We stare at each other for what seems like an eternity – but is probably not even a full minute – until he sighs. Paul leans on his knees and rests his head in his hands. "Okay, fine. I won't lie. Do I like that we're not having sex? No, clearly I don't."

Not sure what to do or say, although logically thinking I should have realized this, I get up off the bed. Before I can walk away, Paul snags my arm and pulls me onto his lap. Holding me securely so I don't try to escape, he proceeds. "But just because I don't like it doesn't mean it bothers me."

I stare at him blatantly. "Really, because I'm pretty sure they have the same meaning," I retort sarcastically.

"Let me finish before you get all mad," he teases, smiling. I continue to frown. "Everlie, I love you. And no matter how much I want to have sex with you, I'm not going to make you do something you aren't ready for. I promise."

I smile softly. "Thank you," I whisper. "But – "

"No buts." He grins.

I roll my eyes. "But there is. Just because you understand doesn't mean it doesn't bother you. It doesn't mean that your not going to get so..._horny_," my mouth twists at the word, making me feel like a child once again, "you're not going to go find some girl to sleep with while your waiting for me to grow up."

He chuckles; then he realizes that his chuckling just makes me feel worse. "You worry way too much, you know that?"

"I'm serious," I whisper.

Sighing, he admits, "I know. But you don't need to be. I'd never do that to you. What you don't realize is that by doing just this," he kisses me gently, "I get more pleasure than by having sex with any other girl. Besides," he adds cheekily, "if I ever get really horny, that's what porn's for."

Burying my face in my hands, I burst out laughing. "Ew, Paul!"

Pulling me tightly into him, he kisses my cheek. "And you really don't need to grow up any time soon; I find your innocence adorable."

I make a childish face at him before cuddling back into his chest. "How can you always do that?"

"Do what?" he asks cheerily, apparently our recent conversation put him in a good mood.

"Make me feel better after feeling like complete shit about something." Then I grin up at him wryly. "And make me feel like a total idiot for freaking out about something that's not that big of a deal."

He smirks down at me. "Well, you see," he begins matter-of-factually, "We're soul mates, so your part in the deal is to freak out over silly little things that only _you _would get out of something, and my part is to make you realize that it's not that big of a deal. And because I'm so clever, sometimes you end up looking a tad bit insane."

Chuckling, I peck him on the lips. "So that's why we're soul mates? I don't even get some corny star-crossed lover bull shit? I just get a _we're soul mates so I can make you feel dumb_? You are no Romeo." I tease.

Making dramatic hand gestures, Paul bellows, "Oh Everlie, Everlie! Wherefore art thou Everlie?"

I smirk at him. "Are you making fun of my favourite play?"

He raises an eyebrow, smirking still. "How? I thought that was pretty clever of myself."

"Did you read the play?" He nods. "So you realize you just asked why my name is Everlie?"

He blushes slightly. "Okay, so I may have fallen asleep while the teacher was reading it."

I giggle. "Well maybe you should do your research before you try to 'cleverly' quote Shakespeare, 'kay?"

He picks me up and rolls me over so I'm captured underneath him on my bed. "And maybe you should kiss me."

Since I can't control my giggling enough to actually kiss him, he starts kissing up my jawline to my ear. "You're silly," he whispers, his breath tickling me and making me giggle more. His lips trail down my neck towards my collar bone. He settles at my neck and doesn't go any further south which I'm thankful for. He sucks and bites at my neck to the point where I'm sure there will be marks tomorrow. I eventually control my giggling, and oblige his earlier request by pulling his face up to mine. We continue to kiss while rolling around my bed playfully teasing and tickling each other. That is until Paul hears my parents' car drive up.

"I think we should go downstairs so your dad doesn't hate me even more." Although I honestly would like to see how my dad would react, I know it's not worth the risk. So we hurry downstairs. Maybe today Dad will finally realize that he should like Paul.

As soon as him and my mom walk through the door, he notices Paul. A glare instantly forms on his face.

Or maybe not.


	15. Chapter 14

**Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone :) Hope you enjoy this, it's your present ;)**

Chapter 14

"Urgh," I groan, rolling myself away from my books that are sprawled out over Kim's bed. Yesterday had been the first day I'd done my half an hour gymnastics workout and although I didn't feel any physical pain – which is surprising considering all the times I fell – I'm definitely suffering now from doing that instead of studying. "I hate midterms so much!"

Kim laughs, spinning her chair away from her desk to face me. "Wait 'til you experience actual exams – you'll want to die."

I throw my thesaurus at her. "You aren't helping."

Smirking, she tosses it lightly back to me. "Things could be worse. If Paul was here, you wouldn't get anything done."

Rolling my eyes, I leaf though the sheets of my term paper. English: the one class without a midterm exam and the one class with a term paper. "No Kim. We're not rabbits like you and Jared."

She giggles, blushing a tad. "Whatever."

Kim continues to study while I continue to edit my term paper. This happens to be one of the most boring things about school – English particularly. I mean, who wants to write a thousand word paper on the significance to the title of To Kill A Mockingbird? At least we're not critically analyzing short stories now, though. That was irritating.

My phone vibrates from beside my stack of binders, papers, and books. Glancing from the corner of my eye at the screen, I see Paul's name light up. Rolling my eyes, I don't bother to read the text. Like Kim and I, he is supposed to be studying with the other members of the pack who are still in school. They're probably having a harder time than we are.

I reach down to the floor where we brought up a tray full of food. Grabbing an apple, I start to snack away. "Did you start the math review?"

She nods. "Yeah, it's not too bad. Each teacher is too lazy to make their own so they're all the same. Great, huh?"

I agree. Then sigh and tuck my paper into the pouch of my binder. "I'm going to start it; this paper is as good as it's going to get."

As upsetting, annoying, and frustrating as it is, for the next couple hours we continue to study, write, and proof read. "All right," Kim exclaims, slamming her Chemistry text book shut, "we're done."

I look at her dubiously. There is no way I'm even close to being done.

"Okay. What I mean is we've been doing this for hours and there's no way we're doing any more," she clarifies. "So let's go downstairs and watch a movie or something. If I learn another thing, my brain will explode." Then she smirks over at me. "We probably shouldn't interrupt the boys, though; their chances of passing are extremely slim as it is."

I agree. I push all my stuff into a pile and then follow her downstairs. Even though it's barely eight, it's already dark outside. The days were longer in Texas... Kim sets all our snacks from upstairs on her coffee table as I situate myself on her couch. She rummages through the pile of DVDs in front of her entertainment center.

"Do you wanna watch a normal movie or a Halloween movie?" she wonders.

I shrug. "It doesn't really matter. What Halloween movies do you have?" There's still a couple weeks until the actual occasion but seeing everyone's houses decked out in Halloween decorations has put me in the holiday mood.

"Um," she murmurs, "all the Halloween Town movies, a couple Casper movies, and a lot of Scooby-Doo movies."

I laugh. "How about Halloween Town? The third one."

She nods and pulls out the movie. After setting it up, she joins me on the couch. Despite my denials, I watch these movies every October on the Disney Channel. They're really corny, and kind of stupid, but they're amazing.

As the opening credits roll by, I decide to check the text message from Paul.

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: Babe, can we be done with studying and just hang out? I miss you :(

I roll my eyes, showing the message to Kim. "They're so pathetic," I joke.

She chuckles. "Ten bucks they didn't even open a book tonight.

**Paul's POV**

I stretch out on Jared's recliner, grabbing my bottle of beer off the end table. Even though Kim and Everlie are convinced – hopefully – that we're all here studying for midterms, we're just watching the game.

Some type of gymnastics commercial comes onto the TV with a girl doing some weird jumps in the air, showing off how flexible she is. Embry smirks. "You're lucky, Paul," he laughs, "if your girl is that flexible." He wiggles his eyebrows at me making himself look like an even bigger idiot.

"Not that he'll ever experience it," Quil cracks up like he's the most hilarious person in the fucking world.

I glare at him. "Fuck off," I say grouchily. Even if Everlie had gotten over it yesterday, I know it still bothers her and I'm sick of them reminding me how much sex I'm not having.

They roll their eyes. "Oh, come on, Paul. We're just kidding; it's not that big of a deal."

"Yeah, well, it is to her."

They all seem kind of shocked. What did they expect her not to care? Or did they just expect her not to realize? She's not stupid. "You _tell _her?"

It's my turn to roll my eyes. "No, idiots," I snap, "but she's not stupid. She catches onto it."

They stay quiet for a bit, looking slightly guilty like Sam and Emily had earlier. We may give each other hell everyday whenever we can but our number one rule is you never hurt or make another wolf's imprint feel bad. Unless you're Leah; she breaks that rule on a daily basis.

Jared decides to change the subject quickly which I'm glad for. If these idiots give me a hard time once more, I'm going to lose it. "No, but seriously Paul, Kim made me watch the Olympics last year. She's really good. Have you seen her?"

I shake my head. "Not any competitions or stuff. I wasn't watching in gym class on the first day."

He gets up and walks over to the computer; I follow him. To my surprise, all of the guys do as well and crowd around the computer. I shoot them a "what the hell?" look as Jared opens YouTube.

Most of them smirk. "Did you really think we'd pass up seeing a hot chick in a leotard?" Embry asks.

I shove him harshly. "That's _my _imprint you're talking about fucktard."

Eventually Jared gets to a video. It's her bar routine from the Olympics. Not that I'm actually sure what "bars" is... When the video starts, there stands Everlie looking sexy in the same navy leotard I'd seen in her photos. She applies this chalk-like stuff to her feet and hands and then goes and begins her routines.

I'm not going to lie, I always thought that gymnastics was kind of a sissy sport. Now that I've seen the muscle that Everlie's little body had, and especially now that I'm seeing her spin and flip through the air gracefully, I realize I'm wrong. It's actually a very demanding sport.

After the first video ends, we watch a few more. The guys are actually just as interested as I am. I'm not sure if it's because they actually find her routines fascinating or because they're just checking her out. I try to convince myself it's the first one just to keep the peace. After we watch this video – which happens to be the 2009 American Cup, Jared scrolls down and we read the comments.

"_Thumbs up if she's still your favourite gymnast! :)"_

"_It's a shame she's done, she definitely would've been on the '12 team!"_

"_Does anyone know what she's doing now? She kinda just went off the map a little while after her injury..."_

"_She so deserved the gold floor medal! So glad she got at least one before she had to retire!"_

The comments continue on saying pretty much the same things. It makes me happy that so many people admire her – who couldn't admire her? – but it also makes me sad knowing how much she misses this life.

Jared clicks the next video, "Everlie Callahan Floor Pacific Rim Championships 2009." We don't scroll down to read the comments on this one and just watch the video. The music starts and I'm once again amazed by how, well, amazing my Everlie is. I start listening to the announcers speak...

"_In just a few moments she'll do her double back with triple twist. This move is a higher difficulty move that very few gymnasts can do so well. And, actually, no other gymnast has perfected it enough to use it in a competition as well as Everlie Callahan has."_

"_And here she goes! That was her – oh!"_

Pain rips through my chest as I realize what video this is. As Everlie twirls downward through the air, she crashes into the ground with a snap. I feel myself shaking from the pain but I don't even try to stop it. There she is, lying on the mat, clutching her leg with silent tears slipping down her face.

"_It's my leg."_

Her voice whispers on the video, the mics barely picking it up. As soon as Jared realizes what just happened on the video, he pauses it and scrolls down to get away from the video. It makes the pain even more bitter sweet as the sympathetic comments appear.

My shaking increases so Jared says hastily, "Here, this vid should cheer you up."

He clicks another link which happens to prove his statement. It's an interview with Everlie; she doesn't look any older than twelve, maybe thirteen. When I look at the title though, I realize that it's in 2007 so she must have been at least fifteen.

She's beaming, looking absolutely adorable as she is asked questions.

"_Do you ever feel like you're missing out on a normal teenage life?" _the interviewer asks. _"Especially with Olympic trials approaching, your training must take up a large amount of time."_

_"Yeah, it definitely does take up a lot of time,"_ she responds cheerfully, _"but it has never really bothered me. There's a lot of stuff that I know I don't get to do but the things that I do get to do because of gym completely makes up for it."_

"_So you never feel like this isn't what you want to do?"_

"_Well, there's definitely been times when I don't land a trick right or the frustration gets to me and it crosses my mind. But I've never been to the point where I actually tell my parents or my coach. I love it too much. I can't imagine stopping any time soon."_

I wince. Irony.

"_I mean, I understand how some people decide to quit," _she continues._ "It takes up a lot of time and you miss out on a lot. If you don't absolutely _love _gymnastics it wouldn't be worth it."_

_"And you do love it?"_

_"It's the best thing in the world," _she exclaims dreamily. _"The feeling that you get when you land a flip or perfect your routine... there's nothing like it."_

The interviewer nods, smiling. _"So what's your typical week like?"_

_"Um... well Monday to Friday: I get up at 6, go for a thirty minute to one hour run, eat and get ready, then be at the gym between eight or nine, I start training at nine, sometimes earlier, then I'm usually done between five and six. When I get home I do a few hours of homework and then go to bed. The weekends are a lot different. I'm usually only do a few hours each day and a lot of studying. But mostly I do normal stuff like hang out with friends and family."_

There's a few more questions which she answers bubbly and sweetly. "Geez, Paul, how's _you _get a sweetheart like her?" Jake jokes.

I roll my eyes but laugh along with them. "I have no idea."

Jared closes the page and we all head back to the television set. "Do you think we should actually study now?" Seth, always the goody-two-shoes, asks.

We snort. Yeah right. "You have a lot to learn Seth," I tell him. Unless Sam is going to be here to physically command us to study, it's not happening. For me at least. Once I become bored from the game – mostly because my team is losing – I pull out my phone and text Everlie.

To: Everlie :)

Text: Babe, can we be done with studying and just hang out? I miss you :(

I don't bother to slip my phone back into my pocket; she always texts back in a few moments. To my surprise, the minutes tick by until it's been an hour and she still hasn't text me back. I frown. Although I would normally worry, I know she's probably just studying.

Guess this just means I'll have to be bored for even longer...


	16. Chapter 15

Their Halloween costumes are on my profile if you wanna look :)

Chapter 15

The only good thing about midterm week is that it ends with the school's first dance – the Halloween dance. To make it even better the next day, is Halloween itself. I've never been to a dance before, obviously so I'm not sure what to expect. Paul keeps assuring me I'll have fun, but he also said that about cliff diving so... Yeah.

I've seen a few dances and parties on television, shows like Gossip Girl, and if they're anything like that, I know I'll feel more uncomfortable than thrilled.

"So how do you guys think you did this week?" Kim asks as her, Jared, Paul and I walk home together. She shoots me a smirk which tells me she doesn't think the boys did that well. That doesn't surprise me. After all, I found out that they had spent more time watching YouTube videos – when Paul made fun of me for an interview I did a couple years ago, I knew something was up – and the game than actually studying.

Although I wish Paul would've studied, I'm not mad when I find out he doesn't. Unlike Kim. But it is his decision; if he wants to be stupid and possibly spend another year in school, that's his decision.

Paul scratches the back of his head while Jared bites his lip, glancing in every direction besides Kim's. I giggle. "Well, I think I did fine. What about you boys?"

Paul shrugs. "Not too well but that's not really surprising."

I grin over at him. "Of course, how can it be surprising when you don't study?"

Smirking, he ruffles my hair. "Shut up, you."

I roll my eyes, sticking my tongue out at him.

"I, uh, probably should've studied more," Jared admits. Kim just rolls her eyes.

"Remember that next time," she says as we reach our houses. Since the dance is at seven, I'm going straight to her house to get ready and I think the boys are going to Jared's. "Anyway, see you boys at the dance." She kisses Jared on the cheek before winking at him and heading up her driveway.

I smile shyly up at Paul, say, "See you," and then head after her. As much as I like kissing Paul, I still feel weird kissing him in front of everyone. Kim says I should just get over it, and apparently I'll need to once we get to the dance. This worries me even more.

I haven't gone trick or treating since I was about ten so let's just say I don't have a costume that will fit me. And I especially don't have one that is appropriate for a high school dance. Luckily, Kim is letting me borrow a costume. I guess she has a lot.

We eat supper – left over pizza and pop – before going upstairs to her room. Once we're up there, I sit on Kim's bed while she rummages through her wardrobe. After a few moments, Kim exclaims, "Aha!" She has a bright smile on her face when she turns to face me. In her hands there's at least six costumes cluttered together. "I found them all!"

I look each over carefully as she lays them on the bed. To my despair, they aren't the innocent costumes I'm hoping for. Each one is revealing, thin and, well, slutty but I suppose this is what's custom to teenage girls for Halloween costumes nowadays. I gulp and Kim laughs. "Which one do you want?"

I analyze them again: a gypsy, a witch, a fairy, a "Wilma Flintstone", a … I don't even know but it looks like a hooker costume and a Minnie Mouse costume. Despite them all being inappropriate, the Minnie Mouse costume is definitely the least revealing one so I choose it.

"I figured you'd pick that one," she teases, taking the witch one for herself. She throws that one on her desk; then tosses the other four back in her wardrobe. Kim decides that my hair is just plainly straight way too often and that she's going to triple barrel my hair. I'm not excited about it but I let her go through with it. If it ends up looking horrible, I can just straighten it.

After she's done and declares it looks amazing, I do her hair. I brush the top layer back into a clip, then I triple barrel the bottom layer of her hair as well. We do our makeup similarly – coal black eyeliner, loads of mascara, and a cool design of eyeshadow that Kim knows how to do – and the only difference is that I use pink eyeshadow where as Kim uses orange.

I still haven't looked at myself in the mirror yet. I don't think I want to. She slips out to her bathroom and we both dress in our costumes for the night. When Kim gets back, I have to admit she looks gorgeous. Grinning, she informs me, "You look so amazing! You totally have to see yourself!"

Rolling my eyes, I turn to her full-length mirror. The girl staring back at me doesn't look like me. She's wearing more makeup than I normally would wear for half of a year. Her skirt is short enough that if I bend slightly forward my butt would be showing. Although her neckline isn't that low, it still shows more than I would normally ever wear.

Even if I'm used to being in leotards, this isn't the same thing. A leotard is convenient, it doesn't show off your boobs – or in my case lack thereof – and I only wore it in my routines, I wore track suits over it most of the time. I'm just not comfortable with this at all.

Even though I have to admit I do look pretty great.

Kim seems to notice this. "Seriously Ev, Halloween is the one night of the year where teenage girls can dress like complete sluts and not be judged. Nobody cares, everyone expects it." Then she smiles encouragingly. "Come on, you know we dress pretty similarly normally. So if I can do it without feeling weird, you should be able to too."

I could tell her the flaws of her reasoning. Like how I'm a lot more... childish... than her. But I don't because I know she realizes them and is just trying to make me want to go to this dance. In this costume.

I sigh. "I guess so."

She laughs. "Okay, now shoes." She walks back over to her wardrobe. "Do you want heels or flats?"

"Umm..."

"Can you walk well in heels?"

I nod. Surprisingly, I'm pretty good at it.

"Okay, then definitely heels. I have a cute red pair here that go with your costume." She throws me a pair of five inch heels that are incredibly cute. But if I couldn't walk as well as I can in heels, they would definitely be intimidating. "Plus you'll need the height since you're with Paul, shorty."

I stick my tongue out at her. "You aren't exactly a giant either!"

"Yeah but I'm at least six inches taller than you."

Sadly it's true. Plus Paul is over a foot taller than me so I take the heels. We head back to the school shortly after we're done because it's quarter to seven. I feel like a prostitute on the way there. The only thing that's keeping me from running home is that Kim's outfit is slightly more slutty than mine. And the other girls who we see that are on their way are also in these type of costumes.

There's a line up to the door of the gymnasium which is where we have to wait to get in. We see Paul and Jared who are with Embry, Seth, Collin, and Brady – the only other pack members at the dance. No one really dressed up besides Paul and Jared, who are dressed up as Mario and Luigi respectively. I don't catch who, but one of the younger wolves let a low whistle. I blush, averting my eyes to the ground.

Kim finds it easier to ignore their behaviour and walks up to Jared grinning. She does a little twirl in front of him. "Do you like it?" The smirk on Jared's face before he starts attacking her mouth is enough to make me look away and block them out.

When I don't go directly over to him, Paul comes beside me. He loops his arms around my waist, not even bothering to make him checking me out discreet. "You look so fucking sexy," he growls lowly in my ear making me shiver. Smirking, he bends down more and kisses my lips. Before I get the chance to respond, he pulls back.

I pout at him and he smirks. "We'll save it for inside. The lines moving." I gulp at his words, then follow him. What exactly does he expect to happen tonight? Does he expect me to be completely different just because it's Halloween? My heart starts hammering in my chest. Oh god... what if he gets mad that I'm not different?

"Ev?" I glance up to see Paul smiling worriedly at me. "You going to give her your ticket?"

I blink, then notice a teacher standing in front of me waiting for me to give her my ticket. "Here. Sorry." She forces a smile before turning to the next student in line. Kim ushers us to the lobby outside the gym where we can put our coats – which I forgot to bring – and purses. After that, the rest of the pack goes off to find girls to dance with and Kim drags Jared back into the gym towards the dance floor.

I bite my lip nervously as Paul and I linger in the lobby. "You okay?" Paul asks, still concerned.

I smile up at him. By now I should know he won't get mad that I don't feel comfortable doing something. After all, something I'm not comfortable with comes up almost every time I'm with Paul and he doesn't get mad... most of the time. Still... I'm not looking forward to this. "I'm fine. Let's go inside."

He nods and leads me towards the buzzing dance. "You do look amazing, babe."

I blush even more but manage to say without stuttering, "Don't get used to it."

I notice him smirk from the corner of my eye. "You always look amazing so I'm used to it already but I guess I shouldn't get used to the extremely sexy outfits."

I roll my eyes and take in my surroundings. It's a lot worse than I expected. Half exposed teenage bodies are grinding and humping the hell out of each other everywhere I look. I feel like cringing into Paul's side and until he squeezes my shoulders gently, I don't realize I actually do.

The group happens to be in the corner of the room so that's where we go. It's not long before Kim's grinding Jared hornily, and the others have found girls to make almost a train of grinding bodies. I'm leaning against the wall of the gym, feeling guilty as Paul stands beside me. The way he's cuddling into me and looking out at the dance floor, I can tell he wants to have some fun.

"You can go dance if you want," I whisper. He doesn't respond at first so I think he can't hear me over the pounding music. I'm about to repeat myself when he yells to be heard,

"I want to dance with you."

"But I don't... wanna dance... like that," I say awkwardly as I see everyone "dancing" to Low by Flo Rida.

Paul purses his lips. "It's really not that dirty when you're actually doing it. It just looks bad. It's not actually that bad at all. Everyone does it. Believe me you'll like it when you do it."

I frown. "Well if it's not bad then why don't you do it with other girls. I'm sure you have tons of offers." I try not to glare at a few of the other girls checking Paul out. They all look like they're about to come over and jump him.

He rolls his eyes, looking frustrated. "I don't want to dance with other girls."

"And I don't wanna be here but I am," I snap. 

He smirks condescendingly at me. "Oh, and you're saying that if I went over there and started grinding that girl over there you wouldn't be completely pissed off and jealous."

I flinch. Of course I would. I'd probably go home and cry now that I think about it. But I won't admit that and stubbornly say, "Not if you want to."

He shakes his head angrily. "Bull shit. You would be so pissed off and you know it."

I look at the ground, ashamed. He's right, and I should just admit it but I can't. "Do whatever you want Paul. I'm going home."

He grabs my wrist after a few steps and pulls me backward into his chest. "You aren't going anywhere." He starts rocking his hips side-to-side against my ass and when I look up at him he's grinning widely.

I gape. "You asshole! You tricked me!"

He kisses my cheek before placing his hands on my stomach and grinding me against him. As much as I hate to admit it, it doesn't make me feel as dirty as I thought it would. _It is a little fun..._ I admit as I start to do it willingly.

"Only 'cause I knew you would enjoy it."

The songs pass by and eventually a slow song comes on. We slowly come to a stop. Before I can decide what to do, Paul spins me around and pulls me into him. I wrap my arms around his neck, our bodies so close that we're pressed tightly together.

I smile up at Paul. "You really shouldn't have been so mean just to get me to dance. You hurt my feelings." I pout like a child up at him, wondering if he'll buy it.

He smirks, clearly not falling for it. "Well, first off, _you _said much worse things. And secondly you should know by now that when I'm actually mad I shake." I glare at him, making him chuckle. "Plus you are just unbelievably gullible.

I blush slightly. "Just shut up and kiss me."

He seems a bit surprised but doesn't pass on the offer. We break out into a full on make out session – something I'm kind of embarrassed about but ignore – and as the music speeds up again. Paul slips his hand down to my thigh and slides it over a bit. Suddenly I realize we're still grinding only... parts on parts.

I blush madly, not sure if it's from what we're doing or the way I can't even bring myself to think the actual names of things. I stumble backwards slightly making Paul laughs. "Sorry, I figured you wouldn't want to. Just checking."

I blush more and he turns me around so we're doing what we were at the beginning of the dance. The rest of the dance goes by quickly and before I know it, it's over. When we're leaving, I see Kim and drag Paul over to her. She winks at me. "Come on, Evie," she grins, "let's go to my house now. We have a lot to discuss."

Paul leans down, kisses me hard on the lips and when he pulls away, he smirks, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

I smile, giving him a hug. "Yeah, text me when you're on your way."

He nods and we go our separate ways. Something tells me Kim isn't going to allow me to sleep tonight and is going to talk my ear off. But since I haven't really had a sleepover for a long time, I don't think I'll mind.

o.O

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: Hey I'm on my way. Bundle up, it'll be cold.

I check myself over one more time to make sure I'm wearing enough clothing. Let's see: leggings, leg warmers, jogging pants, three pair of socks, a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie, my peacoat jacket, mittens, and a scarf. Yeah, considering it's only October – Halloween to be exact – I'd say I'm well prepared.

Of course the weather today is almost ten degrees lower than it has been since I came here. The one day where I have to walk around outside for over an hour without having Paul beside me to warm me up. Tonight we're taking Paige trick-or-treating. I'm super excited. I haven't gone out for Halloween in well, a long time so it'll be fun to watch Paige have fun.

Even if I will be freezing to death.

I slip my phone into my pocket and rush down the stairs. Even though Paul won't be here for another ten minutes, I know my dad isn't going to just let me leave so I might as well get his lecture over with now.

"Okay Mom, Dad, I'm going soon."

They're sitting on the couch, awaiting the rush of children that will soon come. I join them, perching on the arm of the couch. My dad immediately looks disapproving. I roll my eyes. "We're taking his _two year old sister_ trick-or-treating. Clearly nothing would be even capable of happening. Just like every other time we go out because we aren't doing anything."

My dad groans. "I'm not stupid Everlie. I know what teenagers do."

"Yeah well not all teenagers do!" I complain. He shoots me a "yeah right" look and I glare. "Well I don't and last time I checked I am a teenager."

Before we can continue with our little argument, my mom buts in. "Can we please not start this? Everlie, go have fun with Paul and Paige. And honey, stop. Don't start a fight over nothing. If you trust her, then you shouldn't have to worry about who she's with because you can trust _her_."

My dad grumbles something, probably knowing she's right. He doesn't like when she sides with me. I don't have time to thank my mom because Paul honks his horn outside. "Bye guys," I manage before rushing out the door.

"Hey babe," Paul greets, grinning most likely at my layers of clothing.

I peck him on the lips before settling into my seat. "Hey. Think I dressed warm enough?"

Chuckling, he backs out of my driveway. "If not, then I think we're going to have to take you to the hospital."

I stick my tongue out at him. "Is Paige excited?"

He nods, smiling thoughtfully. "Yup. She was so excited when I told her you were coming with us. Mom had a rough time putting her to sleep." We laugh. "She loves her costume too. She's going to be Little Red Riding Hood."

I giggle. "Aw, she's going to look so cute."

When we get to Paul's house, Paige is all ready to go. It's about five o'clock and since she can't be out later than seven we decide to go right away. Even though I doubt we'll be out that long. She's two after all so you'd think that she'd be fed up with it after thirty minutes.

She proves me wrong.

It's well past six and she's still trucking. Paul carries the full pillow cases while I help Paige up to the doors. She's really polite – which is shocking since she is after all Paul's sister – and always says thank you after each house. By the time it's ten to seven, Paige has collected two and a half pillow cases of candy and due to the mistake of us letting her eat the candy, she still wants to keep going.

"Sorry, Pagy, we have to get home. Mommy's gonna be mad if we're late," Paul reasons with the toddler.

She pouts and crosses her arms. "No! I don wanna!"

After five minutes of persuading, she still isn't happy; he even offers to take her ice cream tomorrow but it doesn't work. We're a couple minutes away from his house, and she's almost in tears. Great. I pick her up and place her on my hip. "Hey Little Red, you do know if we don't get home by seven the big bad wolf is going to come out."

Her mouth forms a little "o" shape and she shakes her head. "No!"

I grin at her, tickling her side. "Yup! And if you aren't home and in bed you know what?"

"Is he gwonna eee me?" she gasps.

I giggle. "No! Wolves aren't _that _mean! But he's going to tickle you to death if you aren't a good little girl."

She nods quickly, smiling like a little angel. "Okay Ewerwie! I'll be goo'. Thuper goo'."

I smile at her brightly. "Good." Then I add in a fake whisper, "because wolves really scare me."

We both giggle and I notice Paul smirking from beside us. Once we get home, we put Paige to bed since Laura is still passing out treats. After we get her washed and dressed, she goes right to bed. Guess she really bought into that wolf story.

"Mom, Ev and I are going out for a bit. I'll be back before ten," Paul announces as we head towards his front door. She doesn't seem to have any problem with it, or if she does, she doesn't say anything.

"Thanks for making my little sister afraid of wolves by the way. It's a great thing and all, you know, considering I'm a wolf," he states sarcastically, grinning down at me.

"Hey, I'm afraid of wolves too, ya know."

He raises an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

I smirk. "Yeah. There's this really scary gray wolf that I _always _see creeping around my backyard."I nod, smiling dumbly at him. "It's a stalker wolf."

Paul bursts out into laughter, and I fail to keep a straight face and end up joining him. Once we eventually stop, I ask, "So what are we going to do? Isn't it not safe to be out on Halloween night? I mean, if I'm not allowed in the woods, I shouldn't be allowed out here right."

He rolls his eyes, blushing slightly. "Are you ever going to let that go?"

I giggle. "Nope."

He pulls me into he chest, playing with my hair. "Well, honestly, I didn't have anything planned. I just wanted to be with you."

I blush, but can't deny how happy his words make me feel. "You are such a cornball." Then I look up at him lovingly and kiss his lips tenderly. "I love you."

He kisses me back passionately before murmuring, "I love you, too."


	17. Chapter 16

So my mom isn't letting me go to the party I was supposed to go to tonight, so I decided to update :P Happy New Years!

Chapter 16

"And you're going to be nice, right?" I establish pointedly at my father.

He sighs dramatically, "Yes. When am I ever not nice?"

"Um, let me see," I ponder, "whenever Paul is mentioned, near, or, I don't know, breathing!" I hustle around the table, setting out the plates and silverware. My mom had asked me to invite Paul over for supper a couple of days ago. Due to my dad's streak of embarrassing me in front of him and being a jerk to him, I'd said I wouldn't ask him.

But I felt bad when my mom looked upset at my rejection so I asked him anyway. I had hoped he would say no but he didn't. So here I am, setting the table for an awkward night soon to come. Luckily, everything is at least cooked and prepared.

When I hear a knock at the door, I mouth "be nice" to my dad before rushing over to the door. "Hello," I giggle, opening the door.

Paul's standing in the doorway in a white button-down shirt and khakis. He smiles down at me before pecking me on the lips. "Hey."

"Come in," I say, shooing him out of the doorway, "the food's ready."

Paul pulls out my chair for me before sitting down in the chair beside me. "Hey Mr. and Mrs. Callahan. Thanks for having me."

My mom smiles, finding Paul charming. "Anytime Paul. You're always welcome here."

My dad on the other hand fights the urge to roll his eyes and nods briefly at Paul. I glare at him which makes Paul chuckle. Men are so annoying.

My mom sets a bowl of rice and a plate of chicken breasts for us to take from. Despite Paul's abnormally large appetite, he only takes as much as a normal person would. I tell myself I'll make him a plate later so he doesn't starve to death.

"So, Paul," my dad begins, "are you graduating this year?"

Paul shakes his head awkwardly. "No, I'm in the same grade as Everlie."

My dad looks surprised. I can't blame him; Paul in no way looks seventeen. "Are you the same age?"

I fight the urge to roll my eyes as Paul nods politely. Sadly, my dad continues with his interrogation. After several more questions, my dad says the one thing I don't' want him to say, "I'm sure you are well aware that I don't want you dating my daughter, Paul."

"Dad!" I exclaim angrily. I'm about to stand up and leave, dragging Paul behind me of course but Paul squeezes my thigh gently under the table. Normally it's me who's calming him down, not the other way around.

"Ev, it's okay," Paul says quietly before telling my dad, "Yes, sir, I am aware of that. But I can assure you that you have no reason to be."

My dad smirks in disbelief so I look over to my mom for help. She remains quiet... "Believe me, I know I do."

"Dad! Would you stop?" I cry. "You have no reason to even say this stuff. Can't we just eat?"

"I believe we're allowed to discuss these type of things at the dinner table. Especially to get them out of the way. Don't you agree, Paul?"

I shoot my dad death glares before looking at Paul, not sure what he's going to say. I definitely don't see it coming when he agrees, "Uh, yeah, sure."

"All right then." And they do continue. My dad does everything in his power to make Paul uncomfortable. Paul answers his questions politely, and even when he doesn't lie my dad looks at him like he did. I keep getting more mad as the meal goes on and by the end of it, I'm not speaking and stabbing the food on my plate. Why does my dad have to be so overprotective?

When we're done eating, Paul and I clear the table while my parents go into the living room. I'm still glaring and even after an hour of my dad's torture, he still finds it amusing. "Oh, come on, Ev. It's not that bad."

"Yes it is!" I hiss, scooping more food onto a plate for Paul later.

He wraps his arms around my waist, kissing me on the cheek. "No, it's really not. My mom gave you a hard time and you've never even done anything bad. I... have, at least in your dad's eyes so it's not like I didn't expect it."

I sigh, putting tin foil over his plate and then handing it to him. "Whatever. Do you wanna get out of here? I'm sure you want to eat that."

He blushes and nods. After setting the rest of the dishes in the sink, we head for the front door. "Mom, I'm going out."

She nods while my dad complains. Rolling my eyes, we start walking down the road towards the beach. Why we are going to the beach in the beginning of November, I have no idea... But we do. Once we're there, we sit on the logs and for the first time in a while, they aren't wet.

"I'm so sorry Paul," I whisper, hugging him.

He squeezes my shoulder gently, laughing. "Stop saying sorry, Evie. It's not your fault. He's just worried about you and I'm sure from the stuff he's probably heard that he has a right to be."

I fold my arms across my chest. "It just pisses me off that he doesn't trust me. He's always trusted me and now he just doesn't. It's stupid!"

"I'm sorry."

I shrug. "It's like he thinks I've completely changed because I'm not doing gymnastics and not in Texas anymore. It's so frustrating! He just... urgh. I don't even know what's up with him lately."

Paul chuckles, pulling me onto his lap. "You're a teenager now and it scares him."

"I've been a teenager for the past four years," I grumble.

"No." He shakes his head. "Not a real teenager."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask with interest.

He smirks. "Well... don't take this in a bad way, but before you came here all you did was gymnastics. And when you weren't you were studying or somewhere where he knew where you were. Which normally wasn't with boys. Now you're out a lot more, he doesn't always know exactly where you are, you are normally with a boy, and you have a lot more time to do... stuff."

"But we're not," I respond grudgingly since I realize my dad's worries do make some sense. Why does Paul have to be right all the time?

"Yeah," he admits, "but he doesn't know that. It's the same thing with my mom. No matter what we tell them, they're convinced that we're having sex like rabbits every time we're alone."

"Wouldn't you just love that," I joke, laughing.

He smirks, kissing me roughly. His eyes glaze over lustfully and I know what's going on in his head. I kiss him back, straddling his lap to avoid cramping my neck. After kissing for a while, my lips trail down his jaw to his collarbone.

Paul moans and then starts grinding my hips into him which increases his moaning. Giggling, I pull away from him and stop the motion. "Stop being so horny."

"Stop being so sexy then," he murmurs before nipping and biting at my neck. His hands continue roaming over my body. We continue making out for a long time and no matter what he does, I don't stop him. If my dad is going to keep accusing me of doing stuff then I might as well do it. Well, not _it_, but... you know what I mean.

My hands untangle from his hair and travel to the collar of his shirt. With trembling fingers, I undo the top button of his shirt. He seems shocked, but doesn't stop me until all the buttons are undone. He jerks backward. "Ev, stop."

I shoot him a confused look. "Isn't this what you want?"

He chuckles, pulling me onto his lap. "It's not what you want. You're just doing it to spite your dad. Which is stupid since he wouldn't find out even if we did do something."

I glare at him playfully. "You should be a therapist, you know that?"

"Nah, I'd only be good at being your therapist."

I roll my eyes but cuddle further into his side. Surprisingly the silence that follows isn't weird, it's calming. "Don't you have to do your gymnastic thing tonight?"

I nod, touched that he remembered the days that I chose to do it. "Yeah, I can probably just do it here. Just a bunch of tumbling. It's fun in the sand. Maybe we can see if your cartwheels have gotten any better." I wink at him, jogging over to the sand.

He follows after me. After I've been doing them for forty minutes, Paul tries a cartwheel. It's pretty horrible but I don't say anything about it. "Do you patrol tonight?"

He nods and I sigh. "Be careful."

"Always am."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah right, I've heard stories."

"Hmm, really? Maybe I shouldn't let you stay near Kim for so long," he teases since Kim is the only person of the pack that I am actually close to.

Giggling, I lay down in the sand. "Maybe I shouldn't let you go to the bathroom with Jared."

Paul rolls his eyes. "Why do you have to remember the embarrassing stuff that happens between us?" He groans.

"Because those are the moments that I have the most fun."

"Really?" he challenges.

"Well," I ponder. "I guess there are a few moments that top them."

"Like?"

"Hmm, our date... that first time we went to Port Angeles... I suppose cliff diving wasn't too bad either."

"I personally liked what went on after cliff diving." Outstretching his two arms, Paul pulls me to my feet. "Anyway, what do you wanna do?"

"I, uh, dunno."

"Have you ever been driving?" he asks.

"Nooo," I say slowly, not sure where he's getting at with this.

"Do you want to? My trucks an automatic," he questions hopefully.

I bite my lip nervously. "I can't. I don't even have my permit. And even if I did, you haven't had your license long enough to be allowed to drive with me."

He shrugs nonchalantly. "Details. Come on. I won't let you hurt yourself."

"Paul. It's illegal."

"So? No one around here cares! Besides even if we did get pulled over, I'm sure Sue would pull some strings and get Charlie to bail ya out."

I frown at him but he continues to grin. "You won't get in trouble. Stop being such a goody goody."

I shove him. "Fine."

We walk back to my house where his truck is parked. In case my parents happen to see, I get in the passenger seat and Paul drives us down to an old, deserted dirt road. Leaving the truck in park, Paul unbuckles and we awkwardly switch positions. It's a lot harder to do than it looks. Instead of staying in the passenger seat, Paul slides into the middle without bothering to buckle his seat belt. When I ask him why, he jokes that if I almost crash he'll be able to save us more easily.

The first thing Paul notices as I start to drive is the speed limit. "You do realize the speed limit is like 50 miles per hour right? Not 12."

Glancing at the speedometer, I blush. Honestly, I feel like I'm going too fast. Clearly I'm not that great of a driver. "Oh," I say awkwardly. "Do I have to go faster?"

Paul bursts into laughter. Once he calms himself down, he shakes his head. "No, I guess not. But we're going _really _slow. And it is a straight road..."

I push my foot down on the gas and the truck surges forward feeling like I'm going 80 – in reality I'm still going under 30. I jump back, slamming on the breaks. Paul howls with laughter as his arms restrain me from flying forward.

Eventually we come to the part of the road where the dead end sign shows up. I guess my driving is really horrible. "All right stop just past this driveway and then back up into it. There's no ditch so nothing will happen if you miss the driveway."

"Great confidence booster, Paul," I mumble. As I pass the driveway, I slow to a stop which is when disaster strikes – not really, I'm being dramatic. But, I don't stop completely which causes Paul's truck to make a strange noise when I switch into reverse. On top of that I pull the stick too far and end up putting the truck in park instead of reverse. This causes both Paul and I to jolt forward. He manages to stop me from hitting something but smashes his head off the windshield.

"Oh my god!" I gasp. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! You shouldn't have let me drive. Are you okay?"

Paul shakes his head, still laughing like this is the funniest thing he's ever experienced. "I'm fine, babe, I'm fine. Calm down. It's not a big deal. You've never done it before so how could I expect you to be good at it?"

I shrug, blushing. "I don't know... Can you drive now? I don't like it."

He chuckles, turning off the engine. "I'll drive back but how about we do something else for now?" He presses his lips into mine softly, waiting for me to give him a sign that that's what I want to do. I kiss him back, biting his bottom lip gently. Of course, the second he knows it's okay he goes into the kiss full throttle. Exploring my mouth with his tongue. Exploring my body with his hands. Pulling me out of the driver's seat and pinning me against the truck's passenger seat.

Things continue to heat up until the point where it's more than we've ever done, making me feel things I've never felt before. Just as I'm about to push him off me, I don't need to because he pulls away and sits back behind the wheel.

He's breathing heavily – which is strange because due to his werewolf abilities, he's never out of breath. I rub his shoulder gently, pulling myself closer to him. "Paul? What's wrong?"

Resting his head on the steering wheel, he groans. "Please, Everlie, _get _in the passenger seat."

I stare at him blankly but obey. He's not mad; I can tell that much. But he is in no way okay. He's still pretty much panting in his seat.

"_What is wrong Paul_?" I demand. He still doesn't speak, or really move... "Paul!" I yell.

He forces a shrug. "I'm going to just take you home, okay?"

"No," I complain. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing!" he snaps. "You pull away all the time. So why is it a big deal that I did?"

I roll my eyes. "That's not the problem. The problem is that you went as far away from me as possible and when I came closer to you, you told me to get the hell away from you."

"I never said that," he tells me in frustration.

"You might as well have. Just tell me what's wrong. There's clearly something wrong. Can't we talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about, let's just get you home."

I glare at him although his head is still resting on the steering wheel and he won't look at me to actually see it. "Please tell me what's wrong." I slide back over, wrapping my arms around his waist. He literally moans as my arms brush by his toned midsection.

"And please get away from me."

"Why?" I whisper, flinching away from him in pain and retracting my arms.

Finally be looks at me. His eyes are on fire with lust and need. It almost scares me. "Because," he says so lowly I can barely hear him, "if you touch me one more time I'm not going to be able to control myself and stop myself from doing things to you that you don't want me to do."

His gaze is so tortured, as is his voice, and I think this is when I finally realize how much he's giving up to be with me. It's not like he's used to being in a relationship like this. And he's even admitted that our physical relationship – or lack thereof – is not to his liking. I'm going to have to do something or else he will go insane.

Scooting over to the passenger seat, I buckle my seat belt. "All right. Let's go then."

Closing his eyes, he exhales. "Okay."


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Paul's POV (aka, a lot of inappropriate language)

"Fuck!" I yell, throwing the huge rock into the forest angrily. What the hell did I just do? Everything was going amazing. We were having fun; Everlie was starting to be more open to fooling around. Then my dick had to ruin everything!

But I couldn't have gone another five minutes with Everlie close to me and not make love to her. Luckily, I'd been able to tell her that because if not, if she would've touched me one more time... let's just say her virginity, as well as our relationship, would be history.

I don't even understand how it happened, or how I let it happen. We were making out on the beach, she tried to undress me for god's sake and I still had complete control. Yet when we were in my god damn truck, the things I felt, the things I needed to do were just uncontrollable.

Things were already getting heated up – especially for us – and I'd been turned on since she bit my lip teasingly. That is normal though, most things she does turn me on. What really drove me to the point where I couldn't have her near me, was her arousal flooding through and overtaking every scent in the cab. And erasing every logical piece of my mind reminding me how much Everlie isn't ready for sex. Maybe if I'd seen it coming, I'd have been okay.

But she's the most innocent girl I know. Most thirteen-year-old girls are more horny than her. I never would have thought she would even just physically want to have sex. Which I know sounds ridiculous because she is, after all, still a teenager.

"Dammit!" I continue to yell and curse and throw things. Something had crossed her face when I told her why she couldn't be near me. It was realization which scared me. Everlie is the type of girl who worries about things when she thinks of them and if she thinks of any reason for me not wanting to touch her besides her protection, she's going to be so fucking upset.

Worst of all I couldn't keep my dick under control long enough to at least comfort her. I'm such a horrible imprint. With that, I phase on the spot. Tearing all the remains of my clothes. Too bad they were my only dressy clothes, too...

_Paul? What the hell happened? You're lucky no one is at the beach, _Sam's annoying voice scolds. Despite my best efforts to not, I rethink everything that happened with Ev as well as what happened on the beach.

Instead of making me feel worse, he surprises me by saying, _Paul I'm really proud of you._

I stop dead. _Why the hell are you proud? She was so upset that I wouldn't talk to her about it and she's probably home crying about it now!_

_Yes. But you'll find a way to fix it. When Jared starts patrolling, you can take a break and go talk to her. And I'm proud of you because you put her needs first instead of your dick. Which you've never done before. So I'm proud of you._

As much as I hate to admit it, I feel pretty good about Sam's praise. Mostly because he never does.

_Well maybe this will make you behave more, _he chuckles as Jared phases.

I bark out a laugh. _I'm doubtful Sam. But thanks, I'll be back soon._

_Come to me before you phase so you can take my clothes. I doubt it will help your situation if you show up at her window naked._

_What is going on? _Jared exclaims, confused.

I ignore him and meet up with Sam. I phase, steal his clothes and head to Everlie's house. It's getting late and I know her parents are asleep. Lightly, I toss a pebble at her window. How "Romeo" is this for her?

She comes to her window, eyes wide and puffy. Dammit she has been crying. I point to me and then up to her window, mouthing "can I come up?" even though I'm not sure if she can see me that well.

Everlie nods nervously and opens her window before disappearing. As quietly as I can, I climb up to her second story window. When I get up, she's sitting on her bed with her hands folded in her lap. Gosh, she's so beautiful. She pats the space beside her.

Everlie turns towards me once I'm sitting down. Our eyes meet and silent tears begin to stream down her face again. I wipe them away. She cups my face in her hands and climbs onto my lap. It takes every part of my self control to stay focused, but I do.

"I'm sorry," she whispers quietly so she isn't heard by her parents. I try to object but she puts her finger over my mouth, shushing me. "I've been really selfish." Um? What the hell is she talking about? "Everything has been about me and you haven't been getting what you want." She pecks my lips gently, smiling shyly. "But I can give you it. And I want to. So whatever you want. I'll do oral with you, I'll have sex with you, I'll do anything you want." She looks up at me so eagerly like all she wants is to please me. "I love you."

And I know the feeling because that's all I want for her – to please her. But she shouldn't feel like she has to please me; that's my job. "Evie, I know you do and I love you so much. But don't feel like you have to do something you don't want to do to prove that. I know, I shouldn't have reacted the way I did but you have to believe me that I was just trying to protect."

"I know," she giggles softly. She knows? Then what the... I will never understand women. "But it's not fair to you."

"I get you, Evie," I tell her truthfully, "that's all I need."

"But you don't get _all_ of me." She kisses me again, longer this time. "I get everything I want from you so it's only fair that you get everything you want from me. Please let me do this for you. I hate knowing you're miserable."

I chuckle because as much as I never saw this coming, this is _so _Everlie. She so selfless she doesn't even see that she's doing nothing selfish at all. Of course, I want her. I want her so bad. I know if she wasn't my imprint, if I didn't care so much about her, we'd be fucking right now. But she is and I don't want to have to look her in the eyes everyday knowing she regrets losing her virginity. I couldn't stand that.

Kissing her gently, I whisper, "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you're willing to do that. But, Ev," I sigh, I might as well tell her the truth instead of beating around the bush, "I _cannot _live with myself if I have to look at you everyday knowing that I took your virginity for any reason besides you being ready. I can handle not having sex.

"I know I'm doing a horrible job of proving this to you, but I can. Maybe sometimes I'll have to leave just to stop myself. You have to know though, that I'll never leave because I don't want you around, it's because I want to protect you."

She smiles gratefully at me. And although I know she would've done me if I said okay, I'm glad I said no because she's clearly not ready. "Thank you. And I really am sorry."

I smile. "Don't be." Then my smile twists into a smirk – which I know she loves because every time I do it her heart beat increases as does her breathing. "But you getting turned on by me really doesn't help me control myself, sweetheart," I tease in her ear.

I pull back in time to see her face turn beat red. Oh, why is she so fucking cute? It makes it hard not to think about her while I'm phased... "Y-you can smell that?" she whispers, horrified.

I chuckle, pulling her into a tight hug. "Don't be embarrassed. It's only natural since I'm so god damn sexy."

She giggles, trying to stay quiet and failing slightly as she wiggles around in my grasp. "You're so cocky."

"I know."

**Everlie's POV**

Every year in the first week of November, Emily has a huge turkey dinner for all the pack members and imprints. It's kind of their early Thanksgiving since Quileutes apparently don't celebrate Thanksgiving. This surprises me since I always did with my parents in Texas. But then again, Thanksgiving is more for the settlers to America to be thankful that Europeans settled here. As Native Americans, I guess it's safe to say our community doesn't typically appreciate that.

I don't understand this, but I go along with it. So here, Kim, Emily and I are slaving over her stove trying to prepare a turkey dinner for everyone. Which may I add is like the amount of _five _turkey dinners...

It's already boiling in the tiny house and the boys aren't even in here yet. Since I'm not much of a cook, I'm sticking with peeling the vegetables. It's a long process; this is like my thirtieth potato. "I think the boys should just not get the opportunity to eat an enormous amount of food."

Kim and Emily laugh. "Then they'd probably die and we'd get infested with vamps," Kim points out.

I sigh. "I suppose we should feed them then." Our cooking continues while the three of us talk and gossip randomly. Luckily they don't bring up our own romances. Things have been going good with Paul over the past few days since after the dinner at my house. But it's not something I want to talk about. Even if Kim would be just trying to make me feel better by talking to me about it, I just don't want to. Paul just acts like it never happens but neither one of us let's anything get too heated.

Due to me not paying attention, I end up slicing my finger on the carrot peeler. "Shit," I hiss, clutching the little cut like it needs stitches. I really am a wuss for pain. Emily and Kim look over with horrified expressions on their faces so I force a smile. "I'm okay, it's just a small cut. You have any band-aids?"

Kim laughs while Emily sighs in relief. "Yes, they're in the bathroom. Kim can you show her? I have to check the turkeys."

Kim and I walk into the little bathroom down the hall. I sit down on the toilet while Kim pulls out the first aid kit. "You okay?"

I laugh, taking the band-aid and peroxide. "Yeah, it's only small. And I don't think I got any blood in the carrots."

Kim rolls her eyes. "That's not what I meant. You've been really distant lately when we hang out. Like you're always thinking. Are ya worried about your next appointment? Or something?"

I shake my head. "It's not that, it's nothing really."

She shoots me a dubious look and I wonder if she knows. I figured she did but now that I think about it, Jared might not even know what happened. Paul said Sam was the only one he talked to about it. And it's not like it's impossible for them to conceal their thoughts. "If you don't know about it, then there's no sense in you knowing now. It's over; everything's fine."

She sighs but gives in. "Fine, whatever. But if you cut yourself one more time today, you have to tell me."

Rolling my eyes, I laugh and follow her out of the bathroom. "That's not fair! I have to peel like a million more vegetables!"

We go back to what we were doing before. Eventually I get everything peeled and now I just have to cut them. "Be careful," Kim teases. I throw a piece of potato at her. She screams in surprise and tries to throw a spoonful of stuffing at me.

Emily stops her. "These boys really need to imprint on some mature girls. Ones who like cooking wouldn't be too bad either," she jokes.

We chuckle. Instead of going straight back to cutting, I go over to their stereo and turn on the radio. There's a rock station one which we all sneer at. The music on the pop stations around here suck as well so I put it on the country station. It's on the news at the moment but once I get back to work, the music starts up again.

"Dirt Road Anthem" by Jason Aldean comes on and I grin at Kim. One thing I learned the night I stayed at Kim's is that she loves country music. And real country music not Taylor Swift stuff that might as well be classified as pop. I mean, I like Taylor, but she's so not country anymore.

Once the chorus begins, Kim and I burst out singing. She uses the spoon in her hand as a fake microphone but considering all I have is a knife in my hand, I decide to sing without one. "_Chillin' on a dirt road. Laid back, swerving like I'm George Jones!" _she sings.

"_Smoke rolling out the window, and ice cold beer sitting in the console_!" I continue, trying not to giggle at her dancing. We sing together, "_Memory lane up in the headlights. It's got me reminiscing on them good times!"_

"You guys are crazy," Emily claims, sitting beside me and helping me with the veggies since she's done with her cooking duties.

We shake our heads, grinning. "You're just jealous 'cause you didn't know the song."

"Country hater!"Kim yells, giggling.

"I don't hate country," Emily declares. "I just didn't know the song. If I know the next one I'll act like a retard like you two."

"Harsh."

We all burst out laughing as the song blares behind us. When the next song comes on, Emily says she knows the chorus. We wait until the chorus and then all sing out of sync with each other, "_And I could take you for a ride on my big green tractor! We can go slow, or make it go faster! Down through the woods and out to the pasture. As long as I'm with you it really don't matter! Climb up in my lap and drive if you want to. Girl ya know ya got me to hold onto! We can go to town but baby if you'd rather, I'll take you for a ride on my big green tractor!"_

We collapse around the table laughing as the song plays around us. Eventually I sigh. "We should probably finish this."

"Well if we don't, our guys would die and we could go find ourselves some nice country boys," Kim states, completely joking.

I swat at her anyway. "I don't think that's such a good idea. We're just going to have to turn them in to country boys."

"I know a place where we can get a cow," Emily offers as we do the finishing touches to the meal. We double over laughing once again.

The boys come in shortly after we finish everything – good timing – but we're still doubled over laughing and listening to country music.

All the boys go straight to the food except for Sam, Paul, and Jared who go to their imprints. I kiss Paul on the cheek and he wraps his arms around my waist. "Did you help cook? Because I'd really like to be able to actually eat it."

I shove him, laughing. "No, don't worry. All I did was cut the vegetables."

"And cut herself a million times," Kim teases from her place at the table. I sit beside her and glare at her. Paul immediately grabs my hand with the band-aid on it.

"Are you okay?" he demands in worry.

"I'm fine." He doesn't give me my hand back and continues to examine it. I pull it back and start to eat. "Really, stop it."

He does and starts eating. Of course the tables conversation doesn't really make much sense, and makes us all look pretty stupid. Embry decides to complain about the country music that's on. Kim and I glance at each other blackly before turning to Embry and saying in unison, "Get the fuck out."

Everyone bursts out laughing and although Embry doesn't leave, he doesn't complain about the music again. The boys take forever to eat since they eat so much. While they're on what has to be their fourth plate, us girls are eating dessert.

The song "Crazy Girl" by the Eli Young Band comes on the radio. I already know how the song goes but I know Paul doesn't. He's listening intently and then he looks over at me and winks. I know what he's thinking, _this song goes perfectly with you and what happened this week. _We share a look before bursting out laughing uncontrollably.

The whole pack turns to us, looking extremely confused, not that I blame them. I blush a little but it's refreshing to know no one gets it besides Sam – luckily they haven't found out yet. Sam, though, is trying hard not to laugh.

Kim raises an eyebrow at me. "I don't have to tell you," I say cheekily. "I didn't cut my hand again."

She glares at me but can't help but smile.

The rest of the night flies by. That is until cleaning time comes. Then the guys know how to disappear to the living room. Typical. To spite them, we put the radio as loud as we can stand it and continue to sing to the choruses that we know.

They complain continuously, some of the guys even leave. It's fun, though. Eventually Paul comes out and turns it off. I glare at him, placing my hands on my hips. "Put it back on."

He grins. "Sorry Evie. Not happening."

I continue to glare and pout as well. "Put. It. On."

His grin falters. Sometimes the imprint thing really works in your favour. He makes a face at me but puts it back on. I smile widely at him. "Thank you!"

He sticks his tongue out at me and retreats back into the living room where I overhear some whipped comments. I just laugh and dance with Kim to the music. The day had ended up more fun than I expected.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Have you ever felt like you built your hopes up so high for something that might not even happen? Something that might not even possible. Like the whole time leading up to the actual moment, you made yourself blind to the fact that it might not happen. And then, just when you're about to find out if that thing is going to happen, a wave crashes against you. Filled with doubt and realization that this thing might be impossible.

Well, that wave is just hitting me now. And it's hitting me hard as Paul and I drive to Forks hospital. As much as I want to find out if I'll be able to go to the gym once a week, I don't want to know at the same time. What if the news is bad? Can I handle that?

I gulp and stare out the window.

Last night I had called a gymnastics place just outside of La Push – where I'd gone before I moved to Texas. The trainer there, Aleah Pruitt, said I could go out pretty much any of the day for a bit when I told her my situation and asked. She was really nice about it, so I hope me calling is actually worth it.

"Don't look so gloomy, Ev," Paul chastises.

"I'm nervous," I say, fidgeting in my chair. "What if it's bad news?"

He bits his lip. "We'll get through it."

I sigh. "I just don't want to go through that again. God, I never should've even gone to the doctors in the first place."

Paul rubs my shoulder. "Don't say that. Everything's been good so far so who's to say that it won't be today?"

"I guess Carlisle might be..."

He laughs, leaning over to kiss my cheek. "You little pessimist."

"Fine, I'll be optimistic," I retort, smiling slightly. "If it turns out that I can't do gym anymore, at least I don't have to tell my parents I've been going to the doctors."

Paul rolls his eyes. "You're such a chicken."

I giggle. "Yup."

When we get there, everything happens like it always does. He asks me questions, he does tests, and finally, it's time for the results. I'm holding my breath and shaking in place. Paul's trying to bite back a laugh.

Dr. Cullen goes off in a huge speech giving me warnings and protocols of what can happen and what I'll have to do if those things do happen. I take this as a good sign. Then his last sentence really hits me, "So you better get going to those gyms and try some stuff out."

A grin breaks out on my face and now I'm shaking with excitement instead of anxiety. "Thank you so much," I say, sounding like a kid on Christmas morning." Like normal, we do the paperwork and he tells me to come see him if I experience any pain. I thank him again.

As we're leaving, I hear Dr. Cullen tell Paul something. I don't catch it but when I look back, they're both staring at me. "Yeah, don't worry, I'll bring her to you," he says quickly. I'm sure if I wasn't trying so hard to hear them then I wouldn't have.

We leave the hospital and start our way back to La Push. "See that wasn't so bad now was it?" Paul asks teasingly.

I giggle, that grin still on my face. "Not at all."

"But now you have to tell your parents."

I sigh. "You ruin everything, you know that?"

He pouts. "Thanks a lot, sweetheart, you make me feel so loved."

I wink at him. "I know."

Rolling his eyes, he slides his arm around my shoulders. "Do you want me to be with you when you tell them, or do you want to do it alone?"

I ponder over his offer. I would like him there for the moral support, but I have a feeling him being there would just make my dad be more mad. Maybe even blame the whole thing on Paul which would just make things worse. "I think I should do it alone. My dad might find a way to twist this on you if you're there."

He nods. "Well, good luck then." I realize we're at my house. Sighing, I lean over and kiss him.

"Thanks, I'll call you after I tell them."

He kisses me back before finally letting me go and nodding. "Okay. I love you."

"Love you, too." I shoot him a grin before getting out and going into my house. When I walk in, my mom is home. My dad is still at work so I decide to wait until dinner.

"Hey, sweetie, how was school?" my mom asks.

The morning was good, I didn't go the rest because I was finding out that I can still do recreational gymnastics. Which you told me I couldn't do. Thanks for lying, by the way. I don't say that, though, even though that might get it out of the way. Instead, I shrug, "Not bad."

"You seem pretty happy," she observes.

"Okay," I laugh, "it was pretty great."

She nods, smiling as she washes the dishes. I decide to help, sucking up never hurt anyone. "I'm glad. But, you don't need to help me."

"I don't mind. Do you need help cooking supper?"

She shakes her head. "Dad's bringing home Chinese. I told him to get your usual, is that okay?"

Good, Chinese is my parents' favourite food, they can't be in a bad mood while eating that. "Yeah, sounds great."

Once my dad gets home, we all sit at the table, grab our food and start digging in. The usual dinner conversation goes on for a while and when they seem like they're in a good mood, I tell them, "I have something I have to tell you guys."

My mom looks over to me, surprised. My dad nearly chokes on his food as his head snaps towards me. "W-what is it?" he asks nervously.

"I, uh, went to the doctors today. The hospital in Forks."

My mom's eyes widen and my dad frowns. "Everlie," he says sternly, "you better not be about to tell us you're pregnant."

I gape at him. Was he seriously back to this? "No, Dad! God," I exclaim.

"Then why did you go to the hospital, honey? Is something wrong?" my mom asks tentatively.

I sigh. "No. There's nothing _wrong_, per say. I just, uh, I've gone a couple times in the past couple months." They blink at me in shock but don't say a word so I continue. "I've been seeing Dr. Cullen about my back. And um, gymnastics."

"Gymnastics?" my dad asks, emotionless. "I thought you were getting over that Everlie. All this time you've been hanging out with … Paul and everyone, why would you still be thinking of gymnastics?"

I stare at him in disbelief. "Why do you think, Dad? How can I forget something that important to me?"

"Everlie, we've been over this. You cannot do gymnastics anymore so you might as well get over it."

I glare at him. Can't do it my ass. "That's not true and you know it! You fucking lied."

"Watch your mouth, young lady," he says angrily.

"No! You just can't admit that you're wrong. I've been doing gym stuff for the past two months. Tumbling and stuff, and I'm fine. The doctor _never _told you guys that I couldn't do recreational. You just told me that!"

"That's not true," he states stiffly.

I shake my head at him. "You disgust me," I snap. "I have medical reports and a doctor's approval that I can do it. Maybe I don't know the extent of what I can do yet but by next month, I will. I didn't tell you guys because I wanted you to tell me not to do it or that it's stupid. I told you because I wanted your support... and approval. But I don't need it. So don't think for one second that you disapproving, Dad, will stop me."

We stare each other down for a few moments. "You're still a child Everlie, you'll do as I say whether you like it or not."

"You really think that?" I challenge. "Because I've been doing this for the past two months and you haven't noticed. You won't even know if I'm doing it or not."

He glares at me which scares me slightly. He's never glared _at me _before. Especially like this. "I'm glad you think that. But I will know because you're grounded." My eyes round, did he just say that? "You will leave this house for school and school only. No gymnastics, no hanging out with friends and no seeing Paul."

"That's ridiculous!"I yell angrily. I look over to my mom helplessly but before she can say anything, my dad interrupts,

"It is in no way _ridiculous_." He runs his hands through his hair. "I'm not going to allow you to get hurt again. If you choose to be childish and not listen, then this is what I have to do to stop this from happening."

That pushes me over the edge. I may be childish about most things in my life but this is the one thing that I take seriously and have thought about clearly. "All you're doing is making things worse. You think taking my friends, Paul _and _gymnastics away will make me listen? All it will do is make me hate you."

I know that gets to him by his facial reaction but I don't feel bad. Even if he thinks what he's doing is a good thing, it's too far from one for me to feel sympathy.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Everlie, but that doesn't change a thing. You will not do gymnastics anymore."

"No," I say firmly which shocks him enough for him to look at me curiously. "I will. Until the doctor tells me that I can't, I will. And you know I will. You know me, Dad. You know I'll do what I have to do."

He sighs in frustration. "It doesn't matter what you try to do, Everlie. I'm not allowing you to do it and you will not be doing it. Everlie, you need to grow the hell up and realize that gymnastics is not the only thing in the world."

I'm at a loss for words; I have no idea what to say. What is there to say? Except for not agreeing with him. ""Maybe to you, but this isn't _your _life, it's mine. I don't care what you're allowing me to do. You can't even get past whatever the hell is bothering you to see how much this means to me. I... I hate you."

He stares at me, waiting for me to take it back. When I don't, he storms away from the table. I turn to my mom. She doesn't say anything, she just opens her arms up. I run into them and start crying. I eventually stop. "So why don't you explain to me exactly what's been going on at the doctors."

I tell her everything, knowing that no matter what my dad says, she's on my side. "So, I called the old gym I used to go to and she said I could come and practice whenever as long as the gym is open. There's four weeks until my next doctors appointment – unless something happens – so I figured I could just do one apparatus a week and then I'd know which one, if any, makes my back worse."

She nods. "When do you want to go first?"

"Um... tomorrow?"

"Okay, I'll take you after work."

I smile, sighing in relief. "Thank you so much, Mom."

She hugs me tightly. "Anytime, sweetie. But I want you to know that your dad is thinking of you. That's why he's being such a jerk. I know it sucks, but he just doesn't want you to go through what you went through again."

"Being out of gymnastics is what made me upset, not falling. Not getting hurt."

"I know," she assures me. "It's just hard for him to understand. And realize that you're not our little girl anymore."

I roll my eyes, chuckling. "I guess... It's just frustrating. No matter what I do or tell him, it's not enough, or he thinks I'm lying."

"I know."

"We're really not having sex," I tell her directly, knowing that's what she's thinking about.

Then she closes her eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this," she almost laughs, "Evie, having sex isn't a bad thing." I blink... this is definitely a different way to have the sex talk. "I believe you when you say you're not, because I know you're not. But, I also know you love Paul and I know he loves you. So don't push him away because you think we'll disapprove. Do what you think is right. You did with this and look how it turned out."

I'm still in disbelief. She's telling me to have sex? I bite my lip. "It's not because I'm scared of what you'll think mom. I just don't think I'm ready. I mean, I think I'm more ready than I was like a month ago, but I'm not quite there yet."

She chuckles and kisses my forehead. "Okay, sweetie, I'm glad to hear you're taking this seriously. I'll talk to your father about it. He'll come around."

Sighing, I nod. "I sure hope so." After hugging her again, I head upstairs. Steering clear from my parent's room, obviously. When I'm in my room, I turn my iPod dock on. For some reason I can't stop laughing. How did my mom and I go from talking about doing some gymnastics to having sex? I decide to text Paul before I get to the point where I'm laughing so hard that I'm unable to text.

To: Paul Walker

Text: Hey, talk went ok. Dad is pissed but my moms cool with it :)

His reply comes quickly.

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: u wanna talk about it?

Smiling, I text him back no. There's only one person I want to talk to about this. In fact, I have a message from her asking how my appointment went. Instantly, I text Carly back.


	20. Chapter 19

I would like to thank all my reviewers, you guys are really awesome :) And I really appreciate the reviews :)

I would like to give a shout out to acrobat24, your reviews are so sweet and nice :) so tyvm ;)

Chapter 19

The next day, as my mom promised, we go to the gym. The drive is quite short, a lot shorter than I expected and remembered. Once I'm there, we go talk to Aleah. My mom and her talk a lot and she asks me a bunch of questions about how I liked it in Texas and going elite and such.

After about twenty minutes, they're clearly no where near done talking so they tell me I can go start. I do, I would've left ten minutes ago but I didn't want to be rude. There's no classes going on at the moment but according to the schedule, one starts in an hour and a half. That's enough time.

Despite my eagerness to do Uneven Bars this time here, I want to get some muscle back before I do. I decide to do Beam. I do stretches for ten minutes or so and then do some training things on the Beam for half an hour. I do some tumbling on the beam and surprise myself by not falling off. Once I came close but at the last second, I caught myself. I covered it up well too by adding a handspring at the end.

It looked almost planned.

After a while, I decide to do some routines. I make some up, do some of my level 10 stuff and then when I have about fifteen minutes of time left, I try my routine from my elite career. It's not pretty, I stumble a bit but I get through it and for not having done it in so long, it's pretty good.

Once I'm done, I go over to my Mom and Aleah. "Wow, that's really amazing for being out so long. Even if not, that was still unbelievable," Aleah tells me truthfully.

I blush under her praise. "Thanks. It really wasn't that great." Aleah is part of the reason I was able to go elite. She informed the scouts about me and convinced my parents that I really had a chance if I went to Texas.

She laughs. My mom and her still aren't done talking so I stand and talk with them after I put track pants and a sweater over my shorts and tank top. Eventually, her students come in. This must be the older group, they look between fifteen and eighteen.

They all look amazed to see me which I understand when I think about it. I still find it weird; after all, a few of these girls are older than me. I smile nervously at them. There's seven of them and they all smile back.

Aleah introduces us and I remember one of them. Lucy. We used to hang out after our classes. "Hey," I say to them, then I look at Lucy, "We used to hang out a lot when we were little, right?"

She nods, pretty excited that I remember. "Yeah. We used to always go to the park after our class, I think."

I laugh. "Oh yeah! And we'd do like everything we did here."

We talk for a few minutes before it's time for their class to start so my mom and I decide it's time to leave. "You coming the same time next week?" Aleah asks.

I nod. "Yeah, if that's okay."

She smiles. "Of course. You know what app you're doing?"

"Probably bars," I admit. "It was killing me just looking at them today."

They laugh and we head home. When I get home, my dad's in the living room. I'm about to just walk upstairs but he calls after me.

I turn towards him. "Yes?"

"Can you come in here? I would like to talk to you."

"Fine," I grumble, sitting beside him on the couch.

"How was it today?"

"Great. Really great."

"I'm sorry about how I reacted yesterday. It was wrong and you were right. I didn't want to see how much this meant to you, I just wanted to see the negative of it."

I nodded.

"If this is something you really want to do, I'll try to support you."

I sigh, knowing I might as well just forgive him. "Okay, thanks." I begin to walk upstairs so I can get a shower. "And Dad." He looks over to where I'm standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry I said I hate you. I was just mad, I don't."

He smiles and nods. "I know, Evie."

o.O

The rest of the week goes by smoothly. My dad and I don't fight, I'm ungrounded. I see Paul and Kim a lot. And most importantly, I feel no pain whatsoever. Now I'm at the gym again and I'm all warmed up, stretched and ready to do bars.

There's a few failed tries, but I don't fall and eventually I do get my routine done. When I finally do it without any mistakes – it isn't even sloppy by the end – and land it nicely, I hear clapping. I see the older girls from the class that's starting soon and blush.

How long have they been watching. I do some more and when their class starts, I watch for a while. Lucy is pretty good, she's the only level 10 of the gym. I can tell she's really committed. The others are all okay but no one really stands out. I praise them on their strengths before I go home, shower and get ready for bed.

While I'm trying to sleep, I feel pain in my back which scares the hell out of me. I try to ignore it, take a Tylenol when no one's looking. But that only works for so long and throughout school the next day my back is killing me. Like it used to before.

I do my best to hide my pain, and if it wasn't for Paul's over-observing tendencies, no one would've noticed.

That night, at around ten when we're on my way back to my house, he asks, "Are you okay?"

I nod. Oh yeah, my back is just you know, torturing me. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not." He looks me in the eyes and demands, "What's wrong?"

I sigh, not being able to lie. "My back hurts, okay?"

He blinks, accidentally missing the turn for my road. "No, it's not okay. We're going to see the Cullens right now." Okay, I guess it wasn't accidental.

"Paul," I groan, "I'll call tomorrow. It's too late, don't worry about it."

He looks at me disapprovingly. "It _is _something to worry about. And we _are _going right now. I promised the leach I would take you to see him and even if I didn't I still would because it's what needs to be done."

I frown, knowing I won't get my way with this. "My parents will be mad if we're late."

"We'll tell them the truth, they'll be okay with it."

I find many little excuses on the drive there but none of them seem to work because we're in their extremely long driveway and not on our way back to La Push. "What if they're asleep?"

Paul scoffs. "Leaches don't sleep. And they can probably hear you right now so they're most likely laughing their asses off at you."

"I hate you."

"Nah, you love me. You just hate not getting your way."

I roll my eyes. When we park, Paul has to practically drag me to the door. "We really should've waited until tomorrow," I complain.

Before we reach the steps, Carlisle is at the door welcoming us in. "Now Everlie, if there's a problem I told you to come see me immediately. And if Paul of all people is the one dragging you here, it must be serious. Come in."

All the vampires are in there, staring at me. I only recognize Renesmee and that's just because I saw her at Emily's once. I also recognize Bella but that's just because I've seen pictures, she's more vampiry looking now.

"Nice to see you Paul," Edward greets.

Paul glares at him. I smack Paul immediately. Why is he such an asshole? This makes... Edward?... chuckle. He must be the mind reader. That's kind of awkward. "Stop being such a jerk. It wouldn't kill you to be nice."

This makes the other vamps laugh which kind of makes me feel awkward. Carlisle ignores them and leads us upstairs. He has an x-ray machine in a spare room. These guys are freaking loaded.

"So what's the problem, Everlie?" Carlisle asks sincerely.

"Um, well, my back hurts. Like really bad." Paul cringes, making me feel really bad.

"Has this been going on since last week?" The concern in his voice kind of scares me.

"No," I answer quickly, "just since yesterday. I did Beam last week and I was completely fine, and I did a lot while I was there."

"What did you do this week?" he questions.

"Bars," I say reluctantly.

He nods. "Okay, before we jump to conclusions, let's see if there is a problem with your back or if it's just sore from work you're body isn't used to anymore."

He does the x-ray and I cross my fingers, praying that it's the second one. He looks at the results and from the frown on his face, I can tell it's bad news. "There's definitely some inflammation in your back," he reveals. "It's not large, but since it won't go down significantly, a lot more of this could become a problem."

I nod, not completely sure where he's going with it.

He continues, "Now, you have two options and they are completely your choice. Since you felt no discomfort on the beam, there's a large chance that it is the Bar exercise that is the really behind the pain. You can either, be done completely to not risk further injury." I blink, hoping that there's a better option.

Luckily, he continues. "Or, I'm sure you'll like this one more, you can do the other apparatuses and we can do x-rays to see if the inflammation increases. Now, any other pain, come to me again. But if you don't get any more, feel free to keep trying the next routine – except bars. I'll give you a prescription for the drug you took last time. In a couple of days, it will take the pain away. The inflammation will still be there but it may go down a tad bit with them."

I nod. "Okay, thank you so much. I, uh, think I'll try the second option."

He smiles, nodding. "I figured that much. If there's no complications, come at your scheduled time. If there is, come see me."

I force a laugh. "I doubt I'll really have a choice."

We thank him again and when Paul shakes his hand and thanks him sincerely, I'm really impressed. Even though I can tell he hates being here and the smell – that I can't smell – is bothering him. I wait until we've driven out of the driveway and are on our way back to La Push before I speak, "Bars was my favourite thing," I whisper. Paul puts his arm around my shoulders and I start to cry, actually I start to bawl.

I know that gymnastics without Bars is better than no gymnastics at all, but it's still heartbreaking. Paul pulls over on the side of the road, unbuckles us and pulls me into his chest. "It'll be okay."

I nod. "I know. I just... I just... I don't even know." I cry some more but he just holds me. Neither one of us knows what to say, so we don't say a thing. We just sit in his truck holding onto each other. This may not be a world ending event, but it's still a big deal to me. And I'm glad he understands.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

After I take the pills that are prescribed, the pain slowly starts to go away and by the day before I go for my third gym practice, the pain is completely gone.

My parents had been worried when I told them why I was late coming home. And the news about my back. But they both supported me in my decision to try the other apparatuses. I'm laying in my bed, with Paul beside me. My parents are having dinner at one of my mom's coworker's house, so it's just the two of us.

I intertwine our fingers, cuddling into his side. "My back doesn't hurt anymore."

He smiles in relief and kisses my lips gently. "That's great. Do you think it will after tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure," I tell him thoughtfully. "I mean, I know I'm okay for floor because that's what I've been doing pretty much so I'm not worried about that. I'm going to try Vault though, and hope that everything goes well. If not, I guess I'll at least have Floor and Beam."

Then I grin up at him. "It's pretty ironic how my two least favourite are the two I'm able to still do."

He chuckles. "Nah, that's just life being shitty."

Giggling, I lean up and start kissing him. For a while, we just kiss but it comes to the point that just kissing isn't enough. I wrap my arms around his neck, tangling my fingers in his hair and climbing on top of him.

He's not as reluctant as we have been the last couple weeks and let's his hands roam freely over my body. Groping and rubbing as he pleases. Eventually I pull back, knowing I'm wet. I don't want him to leave, and I don't want to have sex with him, so stopping is my only option.

We lay in silence for awhile, cuddling. "Sometimes I think about it," I admit shyly.

He looks down at me in complete bewilderment. I blush under his gaze, why did I tell him that? I know why, it's because I have been. It all started with a stupid dream I'd had the night after the incident in his truck. At first I'd been appalled.

Why would I think about that? How could I think about it? It's wrong, I'd though. Although the feelings kept coming, I hated them. They made me feel dirty. Until my mom had talked to me about it that is. That's when I finally started to consider it seriously. I realized I wasn't ready.

And I'm still not. I know I'm not. But that doesn't mean I don't think about it.

"You do?"

I shrug. "Sometimes."

He pulls me a little tighter. Before he gets too many ideas, I insist, "But I'm still not ready Paul. I think about it, but I just, I don't think I'm really ready. Does that make any sense?"

Paul chuckles. "Yeah, a little. You realize that when you have sex it won't be a bad thing and you are looking forward to it when it happens. But you don't want it to happen right now."

I nod, smiling at how much he actually gets me. "Exactly. Thanks for understanding."

"Anytime, babe." He kisses my forehead.

o.O

The next day, I got to the gym like normal. Vaults are harder than I remember them being so once I'm stretched and warmed up, I do easy ones. I start out doing vaults into the foam pit before I actually try to land them. I fall a bit, but I always get back up and try again.

After the hour and a half has passed, I don't really want to go but I know I have to. My mom drops me off at Paul's on the way home. Laura took Paige to the park so he invited Kim and Jared to come over. We're going to watch a movie. What movie, I have no idea.

I don't bother knocking when I get there; Paul just laughs at me when I do anyway. "Hey," I call, walking through the front door. Kim's situated on the couch when I walk in so I take a seat next to her. "Where are the guys?"

She laughs, motioning towards the kitchen. "Probably failing at making popcorn."

I roll my eyes. "How can you fail at making popcorn? You press a button!"

"I know! They're hopeless."

"We can hear you," Jared whines from the kitchen. We just laugh more. When they come into the living room with popcorn in hand, Jared has a wicked grin on his face. "Because you guys are so mean to us, we get to choose the movie."

Kim pouts but Jared doesn't fall for it. He sits down beside her, pulling her into his side. Paul walks over to the entertainment centre and pulls out a DVD case. I don't catch the title until the main menu pops up on the screen. _Nightmare on Elm Street_. Kim groans and I gulp. Horror movies and I don't go well together. At all.

Paul sits down beside me, grinning. I glare at him. "I hate horror movies."

"More reason for you to cuddle up to me." He winks at me.

I roll my eyes, but he ends up being right. I jump at nearly everything in the movie. Luckily, Kim is just as much of a chicken as I am so I'm not the only one making a fool of myself. By the end of it, there's not words to describe how thankful I am.

"I'm never letting you two choose the movie again," Kim complains.

I agree. "I'm never going to be able to sleep again."

Paul smirks. "You can handle there being werewolves and vampires but not some movie that you know isn't real?"

I roll my eyes and stick my tongue out at him. "Shut up."

He grins down at me before pressing his lips to mine. Normally I would pull away considering Kim and Jared are right here, but I decide not to. I kiss him back for a bit. Pulling back when I remember that Kim and Jared are awkwardly trying to look anywhere but at us. I laugh; at least I'm not the only one who does that.

They eventually have to leave – namely Jared's parents aren't home so they have some things to do. Once they're gone, I lay down on Paul's couch and close my eyes. "I'm just gonna sleep now."

Paul chuckles and sits down in front of the couch. He leans his head back to look at me. "How'd it go at the gym?"

"Good," I reply sleepily.

"So you aren't hurt?" he inquires.

Laughing, I shake my head. "I'm fine, don't worry. I'm just tired." Then I open my eyes and smile knowingly at him. "And cold."

He smirks. "Roll over, Little Miss Subtle."

I giggle and make room for him on the couch. I curl up into his chest and before I know it, I'm asleep. I can't be out for long because when I finally open my eyes, Laura and Paige are just getting home. "Ewerwie!" I hear her yell. The sudden noise wakes Paul up making him jump – which knocks me off the couch.

I fall to the floor with a thud making Laura and Paige laugh while Paul gapes in concern. "Are you okay? Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

I laugh. "I'm fine, meany." As soon as Laura sets Paige down, the toddler waddles over to me. Someone's tired.

"Did Pawl make you faw?" she asks with wide eyes.

I giggle, pulling her onto my lap. "Yeah, he's a meanie."

She glares at him in her toddler way causing him to laugh. He reaches down and plucks her off my lap. "Trying to make my sister hate me, huh? I see how it is."

Smiling, I rest my head back on his knee. "Sure, Paul. That was my intention."

o.O

Over the next week, Embry ends up imprinting so we have another bonfire. The girl's nice, her name's Elena. He doesn't tell her about the wolves but he thought it would be good for her to know the legends. Kim, Jared, Paul and I also have another movie night. We watch _A Cinderella Story _since it's our turn to pick.

We literally spent all week in Chemistry class trying to think of a movie that we like and they hate. It's hard to find a chick flick that's enjoyable and not too funny. Kim announces that Jared hates _A Cinderella Story _and I remember Paul saying he hates Hilary Duff so... we conclude that this movie is out best bet since we both like it.

Their reactions to it are ones that we expect. Dread. Displeasure. Sulking. "Serves you right," I tease, focusing on the movie. Even if it is a chick flick, I don't know how anyone can hate this movie. Once it ends, the boys make exaggerated grunts of relief.

Finally, it comes time for my final practice before my doctor's appointment on Thursday. I do floor things. Even though I'll deny it if I'm asked, I keep trying things that will prepare me for the one move I know I shouldn't do. But I have a feeling, if I focus on training for it, I may be able to try the move again. And that's all I really want.

After the hour and a half, I'm dripping with sweat. Either I worked a lot harder than I normally do or I'm just completely out of shape...

"Do you want me to take you to the doctor's on Thursday? I can take the day off work," my mom offers on the drive back to our house.

I nod. "That'd be great, actually. If you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind, sweetie." She stops at the red lights and looks over at me. "Have you been going to the doctor alone?"

"Um, not really. The first time I did but Paul came with me after that."

"You probably shouldn't tell your father _that_," she laughs. "Who else knows?"

"Just Paul, Kim, and Carly." And the entire wolf pack most likely but I'm not the one who told them so it doesn't really count.

"Oh." She seems surprised. "You still talk to Carly?" 

"Oh yeah," I reply. "We text a lot."

"That's good, you two were really close."

"We still are," I amend. Then I pull out my phone.

To: Paul Walker

Text: My mom's cuming with me to the docs 2moro so u don't have to cum if u dont want to.

I slip my phone into my pocket. He's on patrol and probably won't see his phone for awhile.

I wake up the next morning in the late hours of the morning since I don't have to go to school. If I would've told my parents earlier that I was going to see the doctor, I wouldn't have had to go to school those mornings.

I check my phone and see that Paul has texted me back.

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: o ok, tell me how it goes :) good luck!

I text him a quick reply before going out for a run. I make it quick. Only about a half hour. When I get home, I eat and then take a shower. There's not much time between when I get out and when we have to leave for the hospital so before I know it we're driving down the high way.

"So how have you been paying for these appointments Everlie?" she asks interestedly.

I shrug, blushing. "My bank account."

She shoots me a disapproving look. "You should've just told us and not used your own money."

I roll my eyes. "It's fine, Mom. I still have more than enough for college." A lot more.

She laughs. "Fine. Speaking of college, do you know what you want to do?"

I ponder over whether I should tell her what I've been considering lately or not to. I decide to. "I … think I want to be a teacher."

"A teacher?" She's completely shocked. "I was expecting gymnastics coach or judge or something."

I chuckle. "Well, I did think about that. I know I would love it but I'd really have to move away for that. And I don't want to leave La Push; I want to stay here."

She nods, smiling knowingly. "That wouldn't be because of a boy now would it?"

Well it's not like I can really leave since Paul can't. I mean, I guess I could but I really don't want to leave him. Plus, being a teacher would be fun. Math teacher specifically. And I can stay in La Push while I go to college so everything will work out. "Being a teacher? No. Staying here? Maybe."

She doesn't scold me like I expect, she just laughs.

When we get into the patient's room, Dr. Cullen doesn't take long to come in and get started. I introduce him to my mom which is pointless because they work together. "I have to admit I was pretty shocked, Carlisle, when I found out my daughter was coming to you and you never told me."

He laughs, shrugging it off as patient-doctor confidentiality.

Everything goes by like usual and when it's time for Dr. Cullen to show me my x-rays and tell me whether he thinks it's safe for me to continue gymnastics, I'm glad my mom's here. Even if I am seventeen, sometimes it's nice to have your mom with you to hold your hand.

"Well," he announces finally, "Congratulations, Everlie. I see no problem with you continuing gymnastics as long as you stay away from the bars." He keeps talking, telling me things that I really should be listening to. But I'm so happy I can't even focus. Eventually he starts telling my mom and I figure she'll tell me later.

Once he's done speaking, all I can say is, "Thank you so much. Really, you have no idea how thankful I am."

He just smiles. "You're very welcome. But remember, any back pain you get that's abnormal or you think is linked to your condition, come see me."

I nod continuously, still grinning. "I will."

Sometimes, things are just really amazing.


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

About a month of time passes by. I continue doing the gymnastics, I continue hanging out with Kim, I continue becoming more comfortable with Paul. Everything is going great and today, today is the day I'm finally going to get what I need.

I think the worst part about the way my career ended, was I never got to go back after my fall. Every other time I've taken a bad fall, I'd gotten back on the apparatus or done it again and it was forgotten. But with this one, that didn't happen. I never got closure. I never got to go back on that floor and prove to myself that I was able to do that flip. That I am able to do it.

Doing it a million times before that moment isn't enough. Not after a fall like that. Not after an end like that.

Maybe that's why I'm having such a hard time moving on from gymnastics.

And this thought made me realize that I need to do a double back with a twist just one more time. Just do it right one more time and I'll be fine. I'll be able to move on. Close the book of gymnastics and start another one with Paul, and Kim, and the rest of the pack. But I need to do this before I can.

There's only one person I know who will understand and let me go through with this. So last week when I decided that I have to do this, I called her. I called Carly and asked if she could come. She said yes, admitting she wasn't surprised when she got the call or the fact that I wanted to do it again.

I told Paul and my Mom that I wanted to go by myself this week. Luckily, all the girls in the practice right after I stop are at a competition in Seattle and won't be here. Only Aleah's here. But she doesn't threaten to call my Mom and allows it.

So here I am: all stretched, all warmed up and clad in my sleeveless leo with a pair of shorts over them. There's a million things flying through but I ignore them. I know if I have to, I can duck out. I glance up at Carly, who's sitting there with her video camera and shooting me an encouraging smile.

I grin back, doing a few more tumbling lines before feeling ready. Then I go. After two twists, I know I don't have time or clearance for another twist so I duck out, landing quite nicely.

"That's a double twist," Carly yells teasingly. She knows I know, but she grins at me cheerfully anyway.

I wink over to her. "Well you can't expect me to do it right the first time."

She chuckles. "Well, they say third times a charm so you have one more try to duck out."

I roll my eyes, giggling. "I might just need that."

She nods. "But only 'cause you're nervous. You're more than ready to do it, Eli."

I nod, knowing she's right. But the nerves don't subside and I end up ducking out before the twist and doing a double pike. Laughing, I go back to the corner. This time, I won't chicken out.

As I run, I use all the power I have in my legs and when the time feels right, I launch myself into my double back. Grinning the entire time, I get enough height to complete the trick. I land and lean me head back, feeling a heavy, enormous weight lifted off my shoulders. "Yes!"

I look over to Carly, happy as a kid on Christmas. "I knew you could do it!" She sets the camera on the bench and runs over and hugs me.

I hug her back as tightly as I can. "Thanks. It... it just feels so... amazing to just..."

"Be over it?"

I nod. "It's like..."

"You'll always love it and be involved in some way, but you can move on with your life?"

"Oh my god, Car. I miss you so much! Can you just stay here forever?" I love how she knows what I'm thinking when it comes to this stuff. No one else will ever understand like she does.

She laughs and goes to turn off the video camera since she now realizes she forgot to. "Sorry, from what I heard about these La Push people, I don't know if I want to be in the same place as them."

I chuckle, she's got a point. People here are special. In a lot of ways. "Well, at least let me take you out to dinner before you have to fly back."

She agrees and I go and change. Everything feels different and it's hard to believe that accomplishing one thing just one more time can alter so much. We take a cab to the only diner in Forks. It's small but I've heard good things. Once we're seated, she pulls out the camera and puts the screen where we both can see it. She hits play.

It's the video where I actually do the trick. How well I did the trick, though, astonishes me. It's not as sloppy as it felt, in fact, I'm positive that it's nicer than some of the times that I did it in competitions. "Wow," is all that I say.

"I know, right?" she breathes. "When you post this to Twitter, all gymnasts will hate you. I mean be out for six months, then train once a week for two months and be able to perfect a trick most people can't even attempt."

I roll my eyes and shove her although I'm pleased at her praise. "Thanks, but I'm so not uploading this."

"Yes you are!" she exclaims.

"Car, come on. That would be like bragging."

She sighs exaggerating. "All of your fans, as well as every gymnast you ever competed against will be so pleased to know that you were able to do that one more time before you're done. And if you don't post this I will call your house everything day until you do. Or tell your mom, she'll post it."

"She wouldn't know how to upload it."

"Well... I'll call that Kim girl up. She seems cool, she would totally upload it for me."

"How would she get the video?" I challenge.

Carly smirks. "My camera saves it to the memory card and my camera so even when I give you the card, I'll still have a copy." Then her smirks turns into a grin. "So I can just upload it myself."

Sighing in defeat, I say, "Fine. I'll upload it when I get home. But I have to tell my parents first."

She nods, making me swear I actually will. The waitress comes over and we order our food. As we're waiting for the orders to come, I inform her, "I've decided I want to be a math teacher. I mean, I know it's not as fabulous as a singer, but I can deal living in your shadow."

She snorts. "You better be able to, after all these years of me living in yours." She winks to show she's joking although I already know. "But that's great, I'm glad you decided. What about college? Any ideas?"

I hold my hands up. "Woah, Car, I'm only a junior."

"Well you'll be applying next fall so you should be thinking about it," she says in her motherly tone she always liked to use with Nastia and I.

"Yeah, I don't really want to go away. There's only one university in Port Angeles that has a Bachelor for Education so I think I'm going to go there."

She nods. "Cool. Paul wouldn't happen to be the reason why you don't want to leave?"

I groan. "You and my mother are the same person, I swear to god. But," I look up to her and tell her truthfully, "I really love him Car and I don't want to leave. Besides, I actually like it there."

"Oh, I know you love him." I raise an eyebrow and she smiles. "The way you talk about him to me, makes it pretty clear. And I looked him up on Facebook. With a body like that, he could be a complete asshole and I'd still want him."

She says this as our food comes. After the waitress leaves, I stick my tongue out at her. "You little stalker."

She just grins. "You know me so well."

We eat and talk. After about two hours of talking, she frowns at her watch. "If I don't leave now there's no way I'll make my flight."

Sighing, I nod. "That sucks but I guess you better go." We hug and say our goodbyes until her cab comes.

When she's gone, I call Paul to come and get me. He arrives in no time and he instantly notices something is up the second I climb into his truck. "What's going on?" he asks suspiciously.

I grin. "I did it."

He blinks in confusion. "Did what?" he asks nervously.

"The flip," I answer excitedly.

He sighs in relief but then seems to realize what my works mean. "By yourself? Ev what if something went wrong and you got hurt."

"Nothing went wrong," I point out, trying to sooth his worrying. "Besides, I wasn't alone. I convinced Carly to come. And she videotaped it if you'd like to see."

He finally stops scolding and smiles thoughtfully at me. "I'd love to see. I'm really proud of you. But I wish you would've told. I would've liked to meet this Carly girl. I hear she's pretty hot." He winks at me, making me laugh.

"You are an ass."

He chuckles and kisses my cheek. "Oh, you know no one compares to you, silly girl."

I blush. For the rest of the ride, I gush about the flip. Going over everything to the point where I think he must be bored, but he seems interested and amused.

When we pull into my driveway, I nearly skip to the door. Paul follows behind me, laughing to himself. "Mom! Dad!" I call, barging into the house. My yelling scares them and they're both alert when I find them. "I have something to show you."

"What is it?" Mom asks interestedly.

I motion for them to come over to the computer. Sticking in the memory card, I bounce in my seat waiting for it to load. When it does, I don't say a thing; I just click on the video.

It pops up as Paul, Mom and Dad stare in amazement at the screen. I show them the failed attempts first and when it comes to the actual video, my mom and dad are completely nervous. When I finish the trick, my mom hugs me impulsively.

"Oh, honey, I'm so happy for you." Then Carly comes onto the screen. "What? Carly was here today? Why didn't you get her to come see me!"

I chuckle. My mom loves Carly. "She had to catch her flight. Nice to know you care more about missing her than me doing it finally."

Paul smirks at his words and I smack him lightly before he wraps his arms around my waist and kisses my cheek. "You did great." The night continues on with my parents being extremely happy which is nice. They aren't even mad that I didn't ask them to come. For once, they finally understand.

Figuring I'll probably regret it later, I go to my Twitter page. I click new tweet and type in:

"I got one more tweet for you guys before I'm done. Got to do it one last time ;) Love you guys!"

I upload the video to the tweet and then post it. As nervous as I am about the reactions, I'm glad that I did. Especially when I think about the little girl at the mall that first time with Paul in Port Angelos or the other gymnasts at Aleah's gym. I know they'd want to see it and that's the whole point of me posting it.

Paul and I go upstairs to my room shortly after the uploading completes.

"You seem happier now. Lighter almost."

I laugh. "I guess, I finally got the closure I needed. I'm ready to move on."

He smiles, kissing me lightly. "What does that mean?"

I smirk up at him. "It means you might wanna start carrying a condom around with you. Just in case." I wink at him and his face is priceless. His mouth is wide open, and the astonished look on his face portrays complete bliss.

I snap his jaw shut, giggling. "Now don't get your hopes _too _high, babe."

**I would just like to emphasize that this is a month after the last chapter. I just wanted to point this out so no one thought this is totally out of character 'cause it's been a month since she warmed up to the idea so I thought it was a good length of time for the transition.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading :) There's only one more chap and a prologue left, which kinda makes me sad :p haha **


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Sitting on my mother's bed, watching her put her makeup on for the party tonight reminds me of when I was five years old and used to watch her get ready for events. Only then I watched because I had nothing better to do, and now I'm watching because I want to keep my mind occupied. To not think about what might happen tonight. To not think about why I'm so nervous.

It's December twenty-third and my parents are both getting ready for the Christmas party for my mom's work. "Do I look okay?" she asks, turning around for me to see.

I nod. "Yeah, but put on the necklace dad got you for your birthday this summer."

She does as I say, surprisingly. Apparently I have no fashion sense. "Is Paul coming over tonight?" she wonders, rummaging through her jewelery box.

"Yup," I answer, trying to not sound nervous. The last thing I want is for her to realize what I'm thinking. "He might be here before you leave."

We leave her room and go to the kitchen. My dad's just getting into the shower now so I know they won't be gone for a bit yet. It would be nice if they were gone before Paul got here so my dad won't make some stupid comment. But I can't really chase them away.

I click the kettle down to make some hot chocolate. "You guys going to be out late tonight?"

Mom shrugs. "Probably. Don't expect us before two."

"All right, do you want me to leave the door unlocked? Or do you have your key?"

"I've got the key, don't worry." Time passes and eventually, while I'm sipping my hot chocolate, my dad comes downstairs ready to go.

"You ready, hon?" he asks, grabbing their coats.

My mom nods, following him to the door. "Have fun, tonight," she tells me, smiling knowingly.

I gulp but force a smile. Since when is she so observant?

Paul's shows up literally two minutes after my parents leave which makes me wonder if he just waited around the corner until their car left. "Hey," he greets from the doorway.

I smile nervously. "Hey." Stepping aside, I let him pass. To my surprise he goes to the living room and not the kitchen. I laugh so he looks back at me.

"What?"

I smirk. "Normally you go straight to the kitchen."

"Food isn't the only thing I think about." Paul winks, taking a seat on my couch. "Sometimes."

I roll my eyes before taking a seat on his lap. "Well, I think it is." My hands rest around his neck and I lean forward and kiss him. He responds roughly, pulling me against him tightly. Although I'm sure I want to do what I have planned tonight, I want to wait a little while until I inform him of that. So I pull back and ask, "Do you wanna do something?"

He pouts. "We were doing something."

"We have all night to do things," I remind him teasingly. "C'mon, I wanna play Monopoly."

He groans. "But that game takes forever."

"Not if you let me win!" I wink at him before running to the closet to grab the Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Monopoly game. When I return, Paul snorts.

"There's a Rudolph Monopoly game?" he asks in disbelief.

I nod, pulling the game out of the box. "I got it for Christmas a few years ago. It's my favourite Christmas movie."

Smirking, he starts to pick out his character. "Of course it is. I wanna be Rudolph."

"Hey!" I object, pouting. "I wanna be Rudolph."

"As you wish, princess." He grins sarcastically and tosses it over at me. I catch it smugly, sticking my tongue out at him.

We play and it doesn't take me too long to win. Paul really isn't trying. Before I know it, I have the second and third side of the board bought with hotels on them. "You really suck at this," I admit, laughing.

He smiles. "Maybe I'm just letting you win."

I wave his response off, even though I know he is. "Nah, I'm just awesome."

He leans across the board, scattering pieces every which way, and kisses me tenderly. "You are."

I blush, kissing him back. Things get heated quickly. I pull myself into his lap and smirk as he starts biting at my neck. "Let's go upstairs," I moan as he hits that special spot on my neck.

His head snaps up in surprise. Joy washes over his face as he asks, "Are you sure?"

I smile as confidently as I can muster. "Definitely."

In a mere second, Paul sweeps me up into his arms and bolts upstairs. He drops me lightly onto my bed; then he climbs over top of me. He starts kissing me normally so I kiss him back. Things continue like that for a long time until his hands tug at the hem of my shirt. I lift my shoulders, helping him take it off.

Clothes fly everywhere until I'm in my bra and underwear and Paul's in nothing. I check him out blatantly which makes him smirk. My gaze falls onto his already hard member. I gulp. He's really big. Like, I don't even think it's possible for him to fit inside of me.

"If you don't want to, tell me and we'll stop now," he whispers in my ear.

I shake my head. "I want to." I meet his gaze and he has the same, lusty expression that he had in his truck. He nods, unhooking my bra. I squirm under his intense gaze, blushing crazily.

He chuckles, kissing me softly. "You're so beautiful." His hands trail up my toned stomach, stopping at me breasts and squeezing. "And your body leaves _nothing _to be ashamed of."

Kissing me once more, he shuffles down my bed, taking my underwear with him. He spreads my legs apart, smirking at how wide they can go. "This should be fun," he murmurs before kissing up the inside of my thighs.

As he's just about to hit my clit, a wave a doubt floods over me. I'm about to tell him to stop when I feel his tongue come into contact with me centre. My head falls back, a moan escaping my lips. My hands drop to his head where my fingers tangle in his hair. The doubt washes away as quickly as it came because at this second, my definition of pleasurable completely changes. Everything I once thought was the best feeling in the world, was nothing compared to this feeling right here. I've already decided that nothing could top what Paul is making me fell.

That is until what happens afterward.

Only my gold metal can top that experience.

**The End...**

**LOL I know crappy ending. And short.**

**Don't worry there will be an epilogue :) Anyway, I don't feel comfortable writing a lemon, nor would I be too good at it... so that's all you're really going to get. Originally, I wasn't going to have them have sex in the story but I decided it would be a good way to end it.**

**And some people are saying they want a sequel but I don't really have any ideas... So if you have any please tell me. :)**

**So thank you to all my readers for this story :) I really appreciate everybody's feedback! **


	24. Epilogue

**Kay so I came up with an idea for the sequel – mostly a mix of what you guys suggested but still :) Here's the summary: **

**Everlie is dead set on having a baby, and she might already be having one. Too bad Paul has made it clear he's not ready to be a dad and never will be. How will she be able to change his mind? Or will she?**

**Duh duh duh... lol, anyway the first chap should be up in a week at most and I can't really think of a name so if you have any suggestions, please tell me :)**

**Enjoy.**

Epilogue

My phone wakes me up the next morning. As I sit up, I realize Paul isn't still here and disappointment washes over me. My naked body is the only reminder that last night wasn't a dream. I sigh, missing him more. I know he had to leave so my parents wouldn't find him here, but still... it sucks.

I reach over to my bed stand and grab my phone. It's a text message from Paul.

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: Good morning love ;) my mom wants to leave early so do u mind exchanging gifts now?

I roll over to get up and feel an excruciating pain between my thighs. I almost cry out in pain but stop myself at the last minute.

To: Paul Walker

Text: Sure if I can still walk ;P where u wanna meet?

I laugh at my own joke although it's not that funny. As I waddle around my room for some clothes, I get his reply.

New Message

From: Paul Walker

Text: haha I would apologize but I no u had almost as much fun as I did ;) and how bout the path u used to run on when u first came here?

Throwing my clothes on, I read over the text. Before I respond, I pull out all my winter gear. La Push winters are ridiculously cold.

To: Paul Walker

Text: u must've had a freakin awesome night then ;) n thot I wasn't allowed there?

I know exactly what his next text will say, and am not surprised when I get one a few moments later saying,

"you have no idea ;) and shut up, you! :) I'll see u thr in fifteen?"

Chuckling, I grab his gift from my closet and run downstairs. "I'm going to exchange gifts with Paul," I call to my parents even though I know that they're still asleep and can't hear me.

I jog most of the way; partly because it hurts less to run than walk and partly because it keeps me warmer in this freezing weather. It's funny to think three months ago I was running down the same trail. So much has happened since then. That day I'd been so upset about gymnastics, about how my life was over.

And in a way, part of it was. Luckily, the new part started. Everything's different now, but my life in La Push is definitely just as great, if not better than my life of gymnastics and Texas.

When I finally see him, he's standing in just a t-shirt and jeans. Stupid werewolf genes.

I throw my arms around him as soon as I'm in reaching distance. Partly because I miss him but mostly because I'm freezing to death and he's really warm.

"What? Didn't get enough of me last night?" he teases, wrapping his arms around my layers of clothing.

I wink up at him. "I'll never get enough of ya."

"Ooh, did I turn my innocent little Evie into a sex addict?" He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

I shove him, chuckling. "No way. That hurt so freaking much. Your dick should be smaller."

He doesn't laugh instead he looks extremely worried. "Are you okay?" he whispers, sounding in pain. "I'm so sorry! I should've went slower I didn't mean to hurt you. But you said you wanted more so I – "

I press my lips into his to cut him off. "Stop apologizing. I was _joking_, silly. It's supposed to hurt the first time. Besides that, last night was really incredible, Paul. You have no idea how amazing you made me feel."

He wraps his arms around me tightly. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, too. Last night... I didn't think sex could be that great."

I sigh in relief, blushing slightly.

He smirks at my reaction. "Ev, did you really think I wouldn't think last night wasn't the best night of my life?"

I giggle awkwardly. "I don't know, you've had sex a lot. I'm sure some time must've been better."

"Not even close," he tells me sincerely, looking deep into my eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Then I look at him, attempting to be serious. "Have you phased since... last night?"

He shakes his head. "Don't worry, I don't have patrol until the twenty-seventh. Your secret's safe until then."

I groan exaggeratedly. "You being a werewolf sucks."

"You don't seem to mind it when you're clinging to me for heat." He ruffles my hair, chuckling as I make a face at him. "You're so cute."

"So do you want your present now?" I ask, eagerly.

Laughing, he hands mine to me. "You open yours first."

I hold his out for him and take mine. "Are you sure? We can open them at the same time."

He shakes his head. "Nope, you open yours first."

He hands my a tiny box. I bite my lip excitedly as I unwrap the box. I open it up and inside is a silver bracelet with an infinity symbol on it. I grin. It is beautiful.

"Do you like it?" he asks anxiously.

I nod before pecking him on the lips. "I love it. It's so beautiful."

He rubs the back of his neck. "I thought you would."

I giggle. "You have good taste. Let me guess you had help?"

"Caught me," he says, grinning. "I dragged Emily all over Seattle."

I chuckle, kissing him again. "Thank you so much." Then I hand him the card that his gift is in. "You might not like it."

He laughs. "I'm sure I'll love it." He opens the envelopes and pulls out the card. He opens the card. After a second, his face lights up and I know I made a good choice. I guess front row seats to his favourite band is always a safe root to take. "And once again, I'm right. I love it. Thanks Evie." He presses his lips to mine and then kisses my cheek.

"I figured you could take Jared."

He mock pouts, wrapping his arms around me. "You don't want to come with me?"

I wrinkle my nose, giggling. "Ew. Rock music is gross."

He pulls me closer to him and kisses me passionately this time. My hands roam up his neck and lock in his hair. After a while, we break off and he rests his forehead against mine. "Merry Christmas, Everlie."

"Merry Christmas." I sigh leaning into his chest.

Perfection.


	25. Sequel is Up

Hey guys I updated the first chapter to the sequel it's called "Her Sequel Continues" lol. I would put a link but links never work on here so you can just slick on my profile to get to it :) Thanks for reading!


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